A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School
by JA-Japster
Summary: Romance! Action! Dating! Deception! Sexual tension! It would be a typical high school experience if not for one thing: all your friends are ninjas and an evil group of renegade ninjas want you dead. Slightly AU UPDATED: 01.05.2011. COMPLETED.
1. Chapter 1

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Summary:  
Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter One: Run Like Hell**

Her panties were white.

Naruto grinned broadly as he spotted the quick glimpse of white underneath Sakura's skirt as she crossed one leg over the other. It was brief, but Naruto savored the moment, replaying it over and over again in his mind with a dreamy smile on his face. Quickly, but not too quickly, Naruto leaned back in his chair and shifted his eyes to the front of the classroom where Instructor Shizune was giving a lecture about healing herbs. Or that was what he thought she was teaching anyway.

Looking up skirts, peeking down blouses, or surreptitiously getting an eye full down a girl's too tight pants was Naruto's calling in high school, one which he took quite seriously. Anyone could be a pervert, but not getting caught and branded as one; that was the true art, one which Naruto wished to perfect. It required a level of stealth, precision, and determination that only a ninja could ever dream of attaining.

And that was him. Uzumaki Naruto. Ninja in training.

"So what color were they?"

Naruto looked over at the boy sitting next to him. He had black hair that spiked in every which direction and was clad in a long, black overcoat that was so baggy it almost resembled a dress. The boy stared at him eagerly.

"White." Naruto whispered. The boy's name was Takeda Kyo, friend at Kohona Academy, and fellow peeking tom. He was good at it, but was far from the level of mastership that Naruto possessed. At the moment, Naruto had taken him on as his apprentice.

"White?" The boy asked, his eyes narrowing. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Kyo flipped open a notebook he had been concealing under the notes he had been taking and jotted down their findings. "I've found a problem in our statistics."

"Really?" Naruto asked with concern. He leaned over to his friends' desk so that he could take a look at their records. His eyes widened. "Wow, you're right!"

"Today is Monday. According to our two months of observation, she should be wearing pink panties." Kyo muttered. "It's always been white on Wednesday and Thursday, blue on Friday and Tuesday, and pink on Monday."

"You think she's on to us? You know, messing with our findings?" Naruto wondered. The idea seemed possible, but quite unlikely. Especially since Sakura certainly wasn't supposed to know he was regularly peeking up her skirt during class in the first place.

"I don't know," Kyo said irritably. "Why don't you go ask her?"

"Shut up," Naruto laughed.

Kyo threw the notebook back into his backpack. "Well there goes two months of hard work." He sighed disappointedly, frowning, but then his eyes perked back up. "So who do you want to target this month? Hinata?"

Naruto glanced into the crowd of students dedicatedly taking notes. It was easy to spot Hyuga Hinata, a petite, pretty girl with short blue hair. She was attractive enough, but was incredibly shy. Several times Naruto had spoken to her in the lunch line or on the rare occasion they were partnered up for something, but it always ended up to be a very one sided conversation. Either Hinata would find an excuse to get away from Naruto, or she would stammer out monosyllabic replies until he gave up. Still, while she might not be much of a talker, Naruto had to admit Hinata had a killer body.

"No." Naruto finally replied. The peeking-tom business did not leave much room for morals, but he would make an exception in this case. There was something about Hinata, something so sweet and innocent about her that made peeking on her seem unforgivably wrong.

"Ino? Tenten? Mitsuko?" Kyo asked, reeling off names on their unofficial "Hotties of Kohona High" list. "Asuka? Kasumi? Ayanmi? Eiko?"

Naruto shook his head. Quietly, he said, "I was thinking of sticking with Sakura for a little bit longer."

Kyo grinned when he noticed his friend blushing, a sly twinkle in his eye "Yeah I bet you do."

"Shut up!" Someone hissed. Naruto looked down the row of desks, and expected, it was him. Dressed in a blue shirt bearing the crest of the Uchiha clan and white shorts, it was him. With his sleekly, long, black hair and brown eyes it was him.

It was Uchiha Sasuke, sole heir of the Uchiha clan, and Naruto could not stand him. It wasn't so much because Sasuke acted like a complete jerk all the time –Naruto got along with people like that all the time; in fact, some would say Naruto _was _one of those people –but it was because the pompous prick was goddamn _perfect. _And that was what infuriated Naruto the most about the young Uchiha. His academic performance was beyond flawless, prodigious even, a fact which earned him the love of all the instructors at Kohona High the moment he walked through the doors.

Actually, it earned him the love of more than just the teachers. And that really pissed Naruto off. The girls loved Sasuke and worshipped him more reverently than any god. Sasuke ignored their subtle and occasionally not so subtle advances with his characteristic cold, almost borderline rude, demeanor, but far from dissuading the girls of Kohona high, it emboldened them to the point where there were more love letters stuffed in Sasuke's locker than books.

It made no sense to Naruto, of course, why the girls like Sasuke so much. Sure he was a genius, and sure he looked like he just stepped out of a modeling magazine, but that was really trivial anyhow. Naruto could only attribute Sasuke's roaring popularity to his rudeness because, after all, girls loved jerks for some completely nonsensical reason. Everyone knew that.

Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he watched Sasuke take notes. This of course could not explain why the girls still staunchly rejected Naruto when _he _tried to act like a jerk. It was all quite confusing, and not for the first time Naruto wished he had an older brother to consult about the raging battle for the affection of the finer sex. He had once contemplated seeking out one of his instructors for advice, but then remembered that all of his instructors' success with girls was nothing short of dismal. Kakashi's love life included cheesy romance novels, and Naruto still had nightmares about the time he spotted the Perverted Hermit trying to pick up loose women outside of adult movie theaters. Suffice to say, the idea was short lived.

This all left Naruto in a quandary of uncertainty with little relief in sight. He had hoped that the girls' would conclude that Sasuke's obvious disinterest meant that he was a homosexual and move on, but that had been all the way back in eighth grade. The girls still chased after Sasuke, and not once had his sexuality been questioned by anyone except Naruto. No one really listened to him anyway.

Instructor Shizune was writing something on the chalk board, and a quick glance confirmed Naruto's decision that he didn't understand any of the material. He had been too busy trying to look of Sakura's skirt all lesson long that he hadn't bothered to pay attention. With a sigh, Naruto put his head back on the desk and closed his eyes. There was little point in trying to pick up one of Shizune's complicated lessons halfway through. He would just copy someone's notes later in the unlikely event he decided to bother.

"Can someone tell me the answer to number thirteen?" Shizune asked.

Immediately, a dozen hands shot into the air. Unsurprisingly, Naruto's was not one of them. What caught Naruto's attention immediately, however, was that Sasuke's hand was up. Not that it was surprising. Sasuke always knew the answers which was why the teachers loved him so much. But his raised hand would draw Shizune's attention towards this area of the classroom which would invariably lead to…

"Naruto? How about you?"

_Damn you Sasuke! _Naruto wasn't sure Sasuke was really at fault for this unfortunate turn of events. His paper thin logic couldn't even convince himself fully of Sasuke's guilt. It could have just been a product of bad luck, but it felt good to blame someone else. Frantically, Naruto looked at Kyo who kind of shrugged and gave him a better-you-than-me look.

"I'm not sure." Naruto answered.

A few people giggled, but Shizune ignored them. "You don't know, Naruto?"

"Yes, Instructor. I do not know."

More people laughed, louder this time.

"Naruto," Shizune said, not bothering to hide her impatience with him. "What year are you in?"

"Senior year."

"And how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Well, don't you think it's time to start paying attention during my class?" A cruel smile crossed Shizune's face, contorting it until it resembled her pet pig she always hung out with. "And not spending all your time looking up Sakura's skirts?"

It was like a bomb hit. Everyone started laughing so loudly the room seemed to shake. Smiling feebly, Naruto lowered himself into his chair, wishing the ground would swallow him up, but of course, had no luck. He wished he were dead just so that he could escape the humiliation. Groaning loudly, he resigned himself to lying low until the laughter died down.

It took another five minutes before Naruto felt confident to emerge again, and by then, the class had more or less returned to normal. Kyo was still laughing, but for the most part, everyone was busy taking notes again while Shizune lectured. Deciding it might not be a bad idea to follow suit to avoid further embarrassment, Naruto picked up his pencil and looked at the board. As he did, he noticed two things.

First was that Hinata was looking at him, a horrified look on her face as if Naruto had walked over there and slapped her. When she spotted him staring, she blushed and quickly turned away. Odd.

The second and, probably more important, was Sakura. She was taking notes like everyone else, but her hand was clenched so tightly around her pencil that the wood was splintering beneath her fierce grip. Her teeth were clenched and she kept stabbing at her paper, oblivious to the large gashes in her otherwise immaculate sheet of class notes. Finally, the pencil could take it no longer and yielded under Sakura's might and snapped into two.

_Crack! _The sound echoed in the room, an ominous portent of terrible things to come.

"Oh great." Naruto muttered.

----

_Run, run run…_

Naruto walked quickly down the corridor leading away from Shizune's classroom, slow enough to avoid attention, but fast enough to get him away from the impending doom that would soon be exiting the room after him. The moment the bell had rung Naruto was out of his seat, his bag half zipped and spilling its contents across the floor as he made a run for the door. Sakura would kill him, of that he had absolutely no doubt. Worse than the humiliation he had suffered under Shizune would be the shame if he allowed Sakura to beat the living hell out of him again. It had happened once before during their freshman year in Kohona High when he accidentally stumbled into the girl's locker room while Sakura had been changing, and years later people still teased him about getting beat up by a girl.

A small grin formed across his face at the memory. The bruises had lasted for a month, but it had been worth it. His only regret was that he had not brought a camera with him that day.

"Walk fast, Naruto." Kyo whispered. He was walking behind Naruto, glancing behind them at Shizune's classroom every few steps. No sooner had he said that, the door was thrown open hard enough that it cracked the concrete wall behind it. Framed in the doorway, was Haruno Sakura.

She had long pink hair and a gorgeous face that Naruto had adored from afar for years. Her attire consisted of a white blouse, and of course, the pink skirt that he had dedicated the entire of Shizune's class to peeking up. Naruto thought she was singularly the most beautiful girl in the school, though admittedly she did not look so beautiful right now. Her normally comely features were contorted with unbridled rage, and her eyes had been reduced to murderous slits that scanned the hallway, like a serpent searching for her prey.

"Walk faster," Kyo said. "And put on your forehead protector. You might need it."

Naruto nodded hastily and reached into his bag for his headband. The forehead protector, a blue strip of cloth with a metal plate bearing the crest of Kohona's Hidden Village of the Leaf, was a ninja's most precious possession. It identified their occupation to the world and in addition related their village affiliation. A ninja was not a ninja without their forehead protector. He slipped it on and tied it tightly.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, a blood curdling sound that resounded down the hallway. Naruto began running.

A ninja was trained in all arts of combat. They could fight hand to hand, create illusions to deceive the enemy, and unleash their inner powers in a variety of devastating attacks from fireballs to summoning giant beasts. Some ninjas were better than others in the various schools of combat, but all ninjas knew how to do one thing really well.

Run like hell.

---

Author's Notes:  
This officially is school-fic number eleventy-billion-nine-forty-five in the Naruto universe, and I'm not sure why I got suckered into the trend. It's just too much fun as writing this first chapter quickly proved. The Naruto characters are so freaking awesome and high school is such a pain (except when it's not) that their compatibility is uncanny! It's slightly AU, but all the cast are more or less in character. Also, there's a few original characters running around (you know those generic, nameless ninjas that always end up getting killed? Yeah, they end up becoming guys like that) because a classroom of ten would be kind of boring.

More or less experimental and completely for fun. I'll see the feedback on the first chapter before deciding whether or not to continue. Writing Naruto is tons of fun, but I have a few other projects I'm late on continuing.

Thanks and remember to review because reviewing is just cool.


	2. Chapter 2

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: Naruto is not mine, but this block of cheese I'm eating is! Don't reproduce this fanfiction on the internet without asking because that would be just about as awesome as the most un-awesome thing in the world.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Two: Locker Room Interrogations**

Naruto sighed in relief as the heavy, metal door to the boy's locker room slammed shut behind him with reassuring _bang_. Beads of sweat dripped down the young ninja's face, and the orange track suit he wore was soaked through with perspiration. Nonetheless, there was a grin on his face as he collapsed wearily on the tiled floor.

"Safe at last," He muttered between gasps for breath.

Sakura had put up a terrific chase and it had taken all Naruto's skill to evade being trashed by his pink-haired crush. He had leaped off of balconies, run across rooftops, shimmed across narrow ledges, but Sakura had pursued him with a tenacity that Naruto could hardly believe. It was not until Naruto had created a dozen clones of himself with a Mass Shadow Replication technique and then jumped off giant waterfall, did Sakura finally abandon the chase.

"Up to your usual tricks, eh, Naruto?" Naruto looked up to see a tall, thin boy, whose black hair was tied in a top knot, staring down at him. There was something about the boy's voice that rankled Naruto, a sort of composed laziness that clashed horribly with Naruto's energetic, outspoken personality.

"Leave me alone, Shikamaru." Naruto groaned. Painfully, he sat up and propped his back up against the wall. Shikamaru, like the rest of the boys in the senior year, were busy changing out of their normal attire and into a pair of simple, blue shorts and white shirts –their PE uniforms. Kyo appeared from behind a row of lockers holding a gym bag.

"Still among the living, huh?" The red-haired ninja asked. He tossed the bag to Naruto who caught it. "Hurry up and get changed. Instructor Asuma isn't going to wait forever."

Shikamaru crouched down beside Naruto and said, "You're pretty bold to be taking a peek at Sakura's panties. Today of all days." He winked at a particularly fat boy who was standing nearby, munching noisily on a bag of chips. "Any idea why Choji is stuffing himself silly?"

"More than usual?" Inquired Naruto, peering at the ninja Shikamaru had pointed out. Choji was always eating. In class, out of class –seldom was Choji spotted without a snack of some sort.

"Well…yeah. More than usual."

Naruto thought for a moment, and then innocently ventured, "Because he's a giant fat ass?"

"I'm not fat!" Choji roared, spraying Naruto with wads of half-eaten chips. "I'm pleasantly plump!"

"Right, whatever." Naruto replied. He opened the gym bag and began changing into his PE uniform. He hated parting with his tracksuit even if it was only for the next class. The outfit was like a second skin to the blonde ninja, and he felt almost vulnerable without it.

"I'm not!" Choji protested. "Right, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and patted his friend on the back. "Sure, Choji."

Naruto had known Shikamaru and Choji for years ever since they had been in elementary school together, and while they could quite irritating at times, they were also skilled ninjas and reliable allies. Well, most of the time anyway.

"So, what's so special about today?" asked Naruto.

Suddenly, a boy about the same height as Naruto stepped out of the crowd and stopped in front of him. He had long black hair that was held together in a ponytail by the black forehead protector he wore. Suddenly, the chatter in the locker room fell silent. The boy stared at Naruto, his blank, white eyes boring into Naruto as if examining his soul.

"Today is Capture the Flag," He said coldly. There was no emotion in his voice. There never was. Without waiting for a response from Naruto, he walked to the back of the locker room where crossed his arms and stood quietly.

"Cold as ice -as usual." Shikamaru observed after the boy had gone. "That's Neji for you."

Hyuga Neji, another genius at Konoha High, was so perfect it was disturbing. He excelled at everything he tried, from sports to the arts to musical instruments and -just like Sasuke- was the center of every girl's attention in school. Everywhere he went girls stopped to stare, but did little else beyond that. While the girls had somehow found Sasuke's disinterest appealing, they knew Neji's indifference meant something else. He simply did not care. It wasn't that he was gay or anything; he was just so focused on success that little else interested him.

Naruto watched the other boy for a minute, observing how others intentionally avoided him. For anyone else this might've been sad. Born and raised without the love of a father or mother, Naruto was well acquainted with loneliness and how painful it had been growing up. But Neji had never sought the assuaging comfort of friendship like Naruto; instead, he seemed to find solace in his self-made sphere of isolation. Shikamaru was right as always –Neji really was as cold as ice.

"That's why I'm eating so much," Choji explained. "We're going to need all the energy we can get or at least I'm sure you will." A wicked grin stretched across his pudgy face. "Because Sakura is going to be trying her best to kick your ass out there."

"Nah, I'm sure she's forgotten all about it," answered Naruto. He smiled, more to reassure himself of the truth in his words than anyone else. A single look at the skeptical looks on his friends told him that he wasn't fooling anyone. "Yeah…I'm sure she's forgotten all about it…"

-------------

"I'm going to kill that little shit!" screamed Sakura, slamming her fist into a locker. The metal door gave way, caving inwards and leaving a nice indention in its formerly smooth surface. "The nerve of that little bastard! He was looking up my skirt!"

A pretty, blonde haired girl who was changing nearby paused at the sound of Sakura's tirade. She chuckled softly to herself and pulled off her shirt, tossing it on the ground. "A boy wants to look up your skirt, Sakura? My, shouldn't you feel flattered?"

A blood curdling shriek followed by another dent into the locker was the response to that question. Her fist still buried halfway into the metal door, Sakura glared at the girl. "Shut the hell up, Ino! This is Naruto we're talking about!"

Indeed, it was Uzumaki Naruto they were talking about. And that made all the difference in the world. Sakura ground her teeth just at the thought of the trouble-making ninja. She had known him her entire life and not a moment had passed where his buoyant attitude had not annoyed the hell of her. She knew he had a crush on her since they were in middle school, but not once had she ever indicated that she was the least bit interested in him. Anyone else would've given up after a few weeks, but not Naruto. What had begun as a childhood infatuation had developed into something much more serious in Naruto's warped little mind, Sakura feared. His latest little perverted escapade only proved it. Kind rejections had not worked in dissuading Naruto; even angry ones had done little to deter his hopes of one day winning her affection. Drastic measures were in order.

Like a swift kick in the nuts maybe.

"So you chased him all over campus?" Ino asked with a sly wink. "Sounds like you're totally not interested."

Sakura rolled her eyes until they hurt. "Please. I created a replication to do the work for me. Do you really think that idiot could've escaped so easily had I seriously been trying to hurt him?"

"Were you?" wondered Ino.

"Then, no. During Capture the Flag, yes." She cracked her knuckles menacingly. "I'm going to make him regret embarrassing me in front of the class like that."

Hyuga Hinata, who was sitting beside Ino, gasped in horror. Her large white eyes widened in fear and she clutched Ino's arm involuntarily. "She doesn't mean that, does she, Ino?"

Ino shrugged, but when Hinata continued to tug on her sleeve, she sighed exasperatedly. "Sakura was just kidding, right Sakura?" When Sakura did not respond, Ino smiled consolingly to the young girl. "She's just playing around, Hinata, don't worry. Your precious Naruto is safe from that terrifying girl."

Hinata recoiled as if something had bitten her. "W-what? No, you have it all wrong. I wasn't really concerned about Naruto. In fact, I don't even like him." She stammered. This argument might have been more convincing had Hinata been able to look her two friends in the eye while she made it. Sakura and Ino grinned at Hinata, like two wolves eyeing a particularly juicy piece of meat. Sakura sat down on the bench next to Hinata, and together, she and Ino moved in for the kill.

"What's so great about Naruto anyway?" Sakura asked. "I mean he's not even that good looking."

"No, you're mistaken," Hinata interjected. "It's just-"

"OK, maybe he's kind of cute in an abnormal sort of way." admitted Ino contemplatively. She nudged Hinata in the arm and winked. "But a girl as pretty as you can do so much better."

"Sakura, Ino, it's not like that." The blue-haired girl wailed, but her friends ignored her.

"There are so many better guys in school." Ino said.

"Guys who are smarter." elaborated Sakura.

"And sexier." added Ino.

"And more popular." The pink-haired ninja concluded. "I can think of a dozen guys you would do better of with than that loser, Naruto."

"He's not a loser!" argued Hinata.

Sakura looked scandalized by Hinata's statement. "He was looking up my skirt during class, Hinata. Is that the kind of guy you want to go out with?"

"Especially when you could be going out with someone like…" Ino thought for a moment and then smiled devilishly. "Neji. Hm…" She whispered dreamily, licking her lips. "What I would let him do to me…"

Hinata's face wrinkled in disgust. "Ino! Neji is my cousin!"

"Wouldn't stop me." replied the blonde girl, sticking her tongue out playfully.

"So how does he look naked, Hinata?" asked Sakura teasingly. "You live in the same estate. I know you spy on him."

"What?" shrieked Hinata, blushing even more than before. "No! Never!"

"Oh c'mon. I know you have your bloodline technique that lets you see through walls and stuff."

"No!" yelled Hinata. "I would never abuse it that way."

"You wouldn't abuse it? Even if you could spy on…who would he be again, Ino?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto?" Ino guessed.

"Because I'm sure I could find a good spot near the boy's dorm if you wanted," Sakura offered. "That is if you're not afraid of "abusing" your bloodline technique."

"Oh leave me alone!" Hinata yelled. Finally having enough of her friends' taunting, she leaped to her feet, looking quite angry. Without a word to either of them, she stormed from the locker room, slamming the door shut loudly behind her.

Sakura chuckled. "Poor girl is so in love it's almost sad."

"It is sad," Ino corrected. "She's in love with Naruto after all."

"A doomed relationship if I ever heard of one."

A moment passed in silence as the two girls sniggered, bathing in the victory of having mercilessly teased their classmate. Hinata was a good friend, but her trusting and kind hearted nature made her such an easy target. She would get over it. This was hardly the first time Hinata had suffered their shameless interrogations.

"You know, I wasn't kidding about what I said about Naruto." Ino said.

"About him being a loser?" asked Sakura.

"No, you were the one who called him a loser, though I agree he is." replied Ino.

"Then what are you talking about?"

Ino looked at the youngest of the Haruno clan and then said, "He is kind of cute."

"What?" demanded a shocked Sakura. "No way! You're kidding me, right?"

Ino did not reply.

Another long silence past with only the rhythmic drip of a leaky shower filling the void between the two friends.

"You are kidding, right?" Sakura asked again, almost pleadingly this time.

Ino only smiled.

-------  
Author's Notes:  
Locker rooms are a breeding ground for sexual tension! That's why I never go in them. That and they smell funny.

Thanks for the reviews from last chapter. Man, fics get pushed off the front page crazy fast in the Naruto category. If you're ever looking for this one, I have it filed away under the Naruto/Hinata category (it seems to stay on the front page longer there) even though I'm not sure if it'll end up that way. You know high school. Kids are changing boyfriends and girlfriends all the time when they're not rebelling against their parents or doing drugs. So yeah, make sure you **drop a review**. Criticism is more than welcomed. I won't be all z0mg j00 flamed my Naruto fic unless of course you do. Then I'll send you viruses. Not the computer kind. The kind you put in an envelope. Hohoho. My endless creativity astounds me.

It is late at night and I'm in need of coffee.

Laters,  
JAJapster


	3. Chapter 3

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Naruto is not mine, but this block of cheese I'm eating is! Don't reproduce this fanfiction on the internet without asking because that would be just about as awesome as the most un-awesome thing in the world.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Three: Capture the Flag**

Standing in the middle of the field, clad in the traditional blue jumpsuit and green flack vest of an upper-echelon Konoha ninja, was their instructor for physical training, Sarutobi Asuma. A large, powerfully built man with short black hair and olive colored skin, Asuma towered over his students with his arms crossed, patiently waiting for the last of the stragglers to emerge from the locker room. A cigarette dangled from the corner of his lips, smoldering embers falling to the grass as he puffed on it. Any other class might have pointed out that an instructor smoking in front of his students was nothing short of inappropriate, but the senior year of Konoha High was already aware that any complaint to their teacher about his habitual smoking was met with feigned deafness. Over time, they just ignored the fact he smoked like a chimney. In fact, the only thing that came close to rivaling the amount Asuma smoked was the amount of ass he kicked as a Jounin…or so he claimed anyway.

"Hurry up people." Asuma scanned the students, and made sure everyone in his class was present. Assembled before him were thirty-six boys and girls clad in their white and blue PE uniforms, sunlight reflecting off the forehead protectors each wore. "In case any of you have not noticed we're going to be playing capture the flag today."

Naruto could not help but grin even with the trepidation of facing Sakura's wrath looming over his head. Capture the Flag was the ultimate exercise for a ninja at Konoha High, a test of all their skills. It was nothing like the version of Capture the Flag that he had once witnessed some village children playing several years ago. They relied on individual speed and strength in numbers to win without hardly any use of teamwork, guile, or technique to aid in securing victory. It was laughable. No wonder the villagers relied so heavily on ninjas to fight their wars for them.

"We've done this a thousand times before, so I won't waste your time." Asuma muttered. He spat the spent cigarette stub in his mouth and lit a fresh one. "There's a red flag in a valley about three kilometers to the east, and a blue one equally as far to the west. Everything in between is no man's land. First team to get their opponent's flag back to their own territory wins."

"What do we win?" Bellowed Choji from somewhere in the back of the crowd.

"What?" Asked Asuma, blinking.

"What do we win?" The big ninja repeated.

Their instructor scowled. "You've been asking me the same question for ten years Choji, and the answer is always the same."

"Still, there should be some incentive in it. Otherwise, how else can we guarantee our best?" said Shikamaru cagily. "I'm sure we can reach some sort of compromise."

"Ice cream! Strawberry! Chocolate! Vanilla!" Yelled Choji clearly excited about the prospect of free food. Or maybe it wasn't even that it was free. Maybe it was just the thought of food period that had him so worked up.

"How about I let you pass my class, Nara and Akimichi, _if _you win?" Asuma growled. He was using their clan names –never a good sign. "How does that sound?"

"That doesn't sound like a very good compromise to me," Shikamaru grumbled, but he and Choji subsided into silence.

"Now if we're quite done," the Jounin muttered. "At the request of the Hokage we have to implement some ground rules." He produced a sheet of paper from his vest and looked it over. "Something about too many injuries.

This was met with a few chuckles, though Naruto noticed one heavily bandaged boy wasn't laughing with them. Capture the Flag quickly became a tense competition when students went toe-to-toe with each other. Outside squabbles were known to be settled on the playing field, and sometimes students became so set on fighting it out amongst their peers that the flag was completely forgotten. Serious injuries were not an uncommon occurrence, and as a precaution the Hokage had a medical team on standby for such an occasion.

"She says no high level techniques." Asuma glanced at his class. "I'm assuming she's talking to you two, Sasuke and Neji."

Sasuke smirked, Neji remained characteristically silent, and Naruto scowled irritably at having been excluded from Asuma's list.

The Jounin checked his paper again. "Also, no weapons are allowed. No kunai, scrolls or anything of the sort. Sorry Tenten, but that means you too."

Tenten, a girl whose brown hair was tied up in two neat buns, gave Asuma a long, dark, scathing look that would have sent most normal people scurrying for cover. While normally pleasant and cheerful, she was also renowned for her quick temper and her ability to throw things with uncannily perfect accuracy. The two traits made her a formidable opponent and an intimidating presence even amongst a classroom with prodigies like Sasuke and Neji.

"Get rid of them, Tenten." Asuma said. "Now."

It was amazing how many weapons Tenten had managed to hide within the tight contours of the form fitting green and pink jumpsuit she wore. A variety of daggers, swords, bombs, throwing knives and even a couple scythes were produced from the most unlikely places, and soon a small arsenal was gathered at her feet.

"Now the rest." Their instructor prompted.

Cursing steadily under her breath, Tenten continued to pull forth another armory from her outfit. Summoning scrolls, hatchets, and a collection of armor piercing needles joined the growing collection of weapons. Most of the senior year boys could only stare and drool at the beautiful markswoman, dreaming fancifully where exactly she hid them all.

Once Asuma was satisfied that Tenten was disarmed of her weapons, he fished into another of his vest's many pockets and drew forth a whistle. He blew it loudly. The shrill sound echoed throughout the field and instantly commanded the attention of all his students. "Teams are boys versus girls." He bellowed. "Any complaints?"

There were none. In fact, many of the students were now chatting amongst each other eagerly. There was a long standing rivalry between the girls and boys of Konoha's senior year, one that extended far beyond just a petty squabble about the superiority of the sexes. It might have started as that back in their formative years, but now it was a matter of pride and honor. Neither side was stupid enough to underestimate the strength of the other. For every weakness the enemy had, they had a strength to compensate for it. The equality only accentuated the competitive air between the rival genders, a rare spice in an already exciting meal.

"Dismissed!" Asuma yelled. The moment the words left his lips, his students scattered in all directions, disappearing in blurs of motion or obscuring clouds of thick smoke. The Jounin smiled and lit another cigarette. The Hokage would be furious when she discovered that Asuma had placed the boys and girls against each other. She would rant and rave about the likelihood of injury and accidents, but in the end she would see things his way.

Besides, what was life without a little danger?

----------------------

The boy's team had gathered around their flag where it had been stationed in the middle of the forest. Already some had dispersed to begin early reconnaissance of the girl's movement, but most of them were huddled around in a circle, speaking quietly. Naruto was amongst them as was Sasuke, Neji, Choji, Kyo, as well as several others. As usual, Shikamaru was at the head of the conversation, scratching lines in the dirt with a stick.

"Neji I want you to choose a squad and head towards the line. At the same time, Sasuke, I want you to take Choji and attack their flank." Shikamaru said as he drew out his instructions into the forest floor.

"Choji will slow me down," Interjected Sasuke. Choji glared at the young Uchiha and growled angrily, but Sasuke ignored him. "I'd need someone faster and less conspicuous if you want me to pull off an attack successfully."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Trust me. Take Choji. You'll need his bulk."

Sasuke relented with a small shrug, much to everyone's surprise. Sasuke seldom ever listened to anyone but instructors. The fact that he was willing to follow Shikamaru's advice only testified to the level of respect that everyone gave the Shikamaru's planning. While lazier than even Naruto was it came to school work, Shikamaru was a brilliant strategist. If anyone could come up with a solution to an obscure problem it was Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru, what about me?" asked Naruto.

Shikamaru looked at the blonde haired ninja. "Patrol the area and watch for penetration." He turned back to the rest of the group. "Now Neji, who do you want for your squad?"

"Wait a second!" intruded an outraged Naruto. "I have to stay on defense while the rest of you attack?"

Neji's gaze turned to Naruto and quietly he said, "Half the team is assigned to defense. Any more on an offensive mission will decrease our chances of undetected infiltration and success in accomplishing our objective. Your presence would be a burden to us."

"That's right," Sasuke sneered coldly. "An idiot like you would only get in the way."

Naruto was on his feet in an instant, his hands clenched into a tight fist. "What did you say, Sasuke?" He growled.

"What? Are you deaf as well as stupid?" The young Uchiha retorted. Naruto lunged at Sasuke, but instantly a dozen sets of hands were pulling the two quarreling ninjas apart.

"Enough!" Shikamaru bellowed. "We don't have time for this childishness, Naruto. You have your mission and Sasuke has his. Now, Neji, who's going to be in your group?"

Naruto turned away from the group furiously, his fists still clenched at his side. Seething with rage he stalked away into the trees, not caring about the rest of Shikamaru's plan. It was a stupid plan anyhow, Naruto decided as he idly kicked a stone away. He was a talented ninja, but everyone had a tendency to overlook his skills, even his own friends. They always gave Sasuke and Neji the good assignments and stuck Naruto with less than prestigious ones like standing guard. It was an important job, sure, but hardly one that would earn Naruto any attention from anyone.

"Stupid Sasuke," he muttered under his breath. The other ninja's taunting words still stung. Naruto did not want to believe that he was being delegated the job of defending the flag merely because he wasn't good enough to lead the attack, but what if there was even a bit of truth in Sasuke's insults?

Stupid, stupid, stupid, Sasuke. If things continued at this rate, he or Neji would capture the flag, further reinforcing their romanticized image of greatness in the minds of all the girls. And that was something Naruto definitely could not allow.

A small smile formed on his face as he slipped through the trees. He would capture the flag. He would. Screw Shikamaru's careful planning. Not Sasuke or Neji, but he, Uzumaki Naruto, soon to be the greatest ninja in all of Konoha, would bring the flag safely back to the boy's line and show the girls just how wonderful he was. After such a display of daring courage, even Sakura would have to be impressed enough to forgive him.

Beside Naruto, the sound of leaves rustling could be heard. Instinctively, the young ninja crouched down, suddenly alert. An intruder was nearby. He listened carefully, straining for any hint of the cause of the noise. For a moment, Naruto thought of doubling back and getting some reinforcements before checking out the disturbance, but decided against it. If he was to win any glory today, he would have to earn it by himself.

------

Hyuga Hinata cursed softly. Despite her caution her leg had accidentally rubbed against a tree and rustled its branches. It had not been a very loud noise, but if there was anyone nearby there was a good chance they might have heard it. She stole through the forest, taking care to plant each foot around dead tree branches, leaves, or anything that might threaten her concealment. Her one mistake was already too much; she could seldom afford a second one.

It was rather foolish for her to be here, behind the boy's line, all alone so early in the game. Normally, they would slip into enemy territory in traditional squads of four, but Sakura and Ino's planning session had degenerated into another mindless squabble about their idol, Sasuke's, affection and Hinata had grown weary of their petty arguments. She doubted any of the girls would notice that she had left for at least another half hour; that was plenty of time to scout for the boy's flag on her own.

The trees were proving troublesome for Hinata, though. They were so thick it was hard to see for more than a few feet in front of her. It would take ages to find the flag in these conditions. Fortunately, Hinata had a solution to this problem.

"Byakugan!" She muttered quietly. Instantly, blood and chakra rushed to her white eyes, and veins around her temple bulged out to accommodate the flow that fueled the Hygua clan's bloodline technique. The familiar blinding rush of energy filled Hinata, and when she could see again the world around her had changed. No longer was her vision obscured by the constraints of mortal men. They transcended the barriers of flesh and physical confinements of the world, allowing Hinata's gaze to pierce through the trees as if they did not exist.

In the distance she spotted her cousin, Neji, rushing through the treetops with some team mates behind him, but they were not heading towards her. Another squad lead by Sasuke was running in the direction of the front line, and a few stray boys were standing around on watch. However, the flag was nowhere in sight.

She frowned. While very powerful, the Byakugan was limited by its user, and though Hinata practiced rigorously to master her bloodline technique, it still had not reached the potency of some of her clan mates who could easily see things miles away without any difficulty. If she wanted to find the flag she would have to sneak further in.

Stealthily, she crept ahead, keeping a wary eye out for the boy's patrols. Hinata had not spotted Naruto amongst them, which meant that it was possible he could be nearby. The idea terrified and elated the young girl simultaneously, and unconsciously she found herself blushing at the thought of the blonde haired trouble maker. It was hard to explain her feelings for Naruto. There was just something about him that made him more interesting than all the other boys that her friends chased after. He might not have the grades of Neji, the raw ability of Sasuke, or the cleverness of Shikamaru, but nonetheless Hinata found his personality irresistible.

But alas Naruto barely even noticed her. It frustrated her to no end, but then again, it was mostly her fault. While Hinata liked Naruto, she had trouble summoning the courage to even approach him much less confess her feelings for him. She sighed miserably. An unrequited love was a terrible thing.

She was about ready to press on again, when suddenly someone grabbed her from behind. Hinata gasp of surprise was stifled by a hand clasped over her mouth, and her body was pulled firmly against her assailant, so firmly that she could feel the rhythmic beat of their heart against her back. She struggled briefly, but the one arm her captor had wrapped around her waist was enough to hold her. Internally, Hinata raged at herself. She had been so distracted by her thoughts about Naruto that she had not even noticed someone sneaking up behind her.

Hinata's body stiffened as the arm encircling her waist began moving further up her body with tantalizing slowness, almost as if teasing the young ninja, until they came to a rest, nestled gently under her breasts. A pair of warm lips gently kissed the side of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine, and then a soft whisper delicately caressed her ears.

"Got you." The voice whispered. "You're caught."

Hinata froze and her eyes widened in horror. She knew that voice! With a surge of desperate energy she broke away from their grip and spun around to face her assailant. None other than Naruto stood in front of her, chuckling softly with a roguish twinkle in his eye.

"Hi, Hinata." He said cheerfully.

Hinata could only stare at Naruto. Her mind raced, thinking of something suitable to do or say. Anything. She was an expert in hand to hand combat. She should punch him for daring to touch her, Hinata, the heiress of one of Konoha's most powerful clans! Or should she kiss him like she wanted so badly to do, to punctuate an already romantic encounter? What clearer confession of her affections could there be? Surely then Naruto would know how much she cared for him.

Finally, Hinata settled for a compromise. She fainted.

Naruto lurched forward to catch Hinata as she fell, and for a moment he held her in his arms, enjoying the feeling of her almost weightless form against him. She was so innocent, he almost felt bad for toying with her like that. Almost. Gently, he rested the blue-haired ninja on the ground and propped her head up against a tree. This wasn't the first time she had fainted like this, and knowing Hinata, it wouldn't be the last.

"Sorry, Hinata." Naruto whispered. He kneeled down and kissed her on the cheek, and for a moment he could have sworn he saw the unconscious girl smile. Laughing to himself, Naruto walked away. The game had only begun.

-----

Author's Notes:

Yay! Capture the Flag! My favorite past time mixed with lots of ninja goodness! What could be the results? Romantic encounters in the forest? Lots of kickass ninja battles? More awkward situations than accidentally going into the girl's bathroom? That and more on the next episode of this slowly updating fanfiction.

Sorry it's taking so long to get chapters up. Pretty busy. Going to only be updating it casually unless I get the idea that a lot of people are waiting for an update. Only got a dozen or so hits and three reviews last chapter, so if you want to see more, be sure to drop a small one liner or so telling me what you liked/disliked. Suggestions are cool too. Any kind of original characters you wanted inserted into the mix? I write for fun, but getting feedback is the true reward.

OK, enough with this pathetic plea for reader feedback while I still have some dignity. Too late you say? Damn it!


	4. Chapter 4

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Naruto is not mine, though it would be awesome if it were. Then I could go around and tell everyone that and they would have to respect me for being so god-like. Oh, and don't reproduce this fanfiction elsewhere without my permission. That would not be awesome. And I'm sure you know how much I care about things being awesome.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Four: The Weirdness of Girls and Boys**

"And then he said 'that is the truth of our youthful passion and the heat of our entirety!'"

Neji rolled his eyes and tried to resist the urge to throttle the boy who was practically dancing next to him. Clad in a green jumpsuit with ridiculous looking orange leg coverings, Rock Lee had been jumping with glee ever since he had been elected to join Neji's three-man team. For the third time in the last fifteen seconds, Neji regretted having chosen Lee to help lead the attack on the girl's flag. The boy was incredibly fast and an expert at martial arts, two skills which would come in handy once they breached the girl's line, but his annoying, talkative personality made Neji wish he had chosen someone else. Anyone else. Anyone who would shut up for more than two seconds so he could think in peace.

"Lee, that makes absolutely no sense." Neji replied patiently.

"But, Instructor Gai told me that…"

"Instructor Gai was wrong."

"But…" Lee protested.

"No." Neji interrupted. "Just be quiet Lee."

"Hey, Neji, I smell something." Neji's other companion, a brown haired boy wearing a gray hunting jacket, whispered. Instantly, the squad came to a halt. Neji looked inquiringly at the speaker, but he was occupied with sniffing the forest floor like an animal searching for the scent of its quarry. But that made perfect sense seeing as that Inuzuka Kiba was a member of a clan that raised hunting wolves alongside their children. Decades of evolution had melded the wolves' excellent sense of smell into their masters, and as a result the Inuzuka clan was renowned for their tracking skills.

"There's someone nearby." Kiba whispered softly.

"Female?" asked Neji.

The other teen gave a feral grin, revealing rows of unnaturally pointy teeth not unlike those of the wolves he always hung around with. "Oh yes, definitely female." He assured Neji. "And alone too I think."

"Huh," Neji muttered to himself, crossing his arms.

"I'll take care of them!" shouted Rock Lee excitedly. "One, a hundred, or a thousand –I'll fight them all single handedly!"

Though Neji's face portrayed nothing more than usual, his arm began to feel an involuntary twitchy urge to punch Lee in the face. He forced himself to take several breathes before he trusted himself to speak civilly to his annoying team member. "Go with Kiba as planned. I'll take care of this."

"But…" Lee protested.

"Go!" Neji snapped.

The hand-to-hand combat expert frowned but was smart enough to listen to his leader. Gesturing to Kiba to follow, he sped off into the undergrowth. Neji waited until they were gone before heading in a different direction. It was time to find the intruder.

-----------------

Tenten almost had fallen asleep when she heard footsteps. Immediately, she perked up where she sat on a tree branch high above the ground. She grabbed one of the weapons she had resting nearby and lay prone on the gigantic tree limb, watching the forest for signs of activity. It came soon enough. A figure emerged from a series of thick bushes, stepping through the shrubbery and into the clearing directly below the tree where Tenten waited.

Tenten's heart leaped with excitement when she recognized the young ninja. It was Hyuga Neji. Only he had those refined, gorgeous features and long silky hair that any girl would envy. She thought he was beautiful; a bit feminine looking perhaps, but to counter that there was an unmistakable, dominant aura of masculine power projecting from his being. Sitting in the treetops she could feel it as she watched him. Every movement, every subtle gesture captivated her sight, extending a wordless invitation that she could not refute. Neji was a powerful ninja, one of the best in all of Konoha even before he graduated from high school, and the craving to see his legendary talents in person was an intoxicating lure that Tenten was unable to resist.

They said he was the best. Tenten would need to see that for herself before believing it.

She leaped from perch and, as she spiraled through the air, she grabbed a handful of the sharp, round stones from her pockets and hurled them at Neji. They rocketed towards the unsuspecting ninja, blurs of motion against the forests backdrop, and for a moment it seemed that they would hit Neji. At the last possible moment, Neji spun on his heels, and in a flurry of rapid strikes, plucked each of the stones out of the air. With deliberate slowness, he opened his palm and let each of the stones drop leisurely to the ground.

"Not bad," Tenten admitted. "Thought I had you for a minute."

Neji looked at Tenten. "Oh, it's just you." He said. His face never changed, never shifted from the emotionless mask he entertained, but the disappointment in his voice was clear. Neji began walking away. "I don't have time to play games with you."

His callous words hit Tenten like a ton of bricks. For a moment she was speechless, too stunned by his dismissing words to say anything, but gradually the shock gave way to anger. How dare he! She had so eagerly looked forward to this moment for weeks, no, months, training rigorously and practicing for an opportunity to fight Neji, and now that it had come he had the audacity to brush her aside as if she meant nothing!

"Don't you walk away!" She yelled at Neji's retreating figure. "Turn around and fight me!"

Suddenly Neji paused. He looked at her over his shoulder, a bemused look on his face that shattered the usual stoic-ness. "You would challenge me without your weapons?" He asked quietly.

"I'm here aren't I?" retorted Tenten. "And I have more than enough weapons to take you on, Hyuga Neji!" From her jumpsuit she produced her weapons. Kunai chiseled from stone, windmill shruikens carved from wood –her hands bristled with an arsenal of handcrafted projectiles. From the moment Asuma had confiscated her personal stash of weapons, Tenten had been busy building new ones.

For the first time in her life, Tenten saw Neji smile. It was a brief smile that vanished as quickly as it had formed, but it was unmistakable. A warm glow of satisfaction filled the beautiful markswoman as Neji turned to face her. Finally he was taking her seriously.

"You were serious about your challenge." Neji said. He looked down at the ground, and when his head came back up, Tenten saw his veins bulging alongside his eyes as chakra rushed into them, activating his clan's legendary bloodline technique. "I apologize for my disrespect, Tenten. You're not one of them."

Tenten smirked. No, she was not one of them. Not another one of those mindless, fawning girls.

"I will show you no mercy." Neji stated.

"Good!" Tenten yelled. With a wordless battle cry, she lunged forward and hurled a hailstorm of stone kunai at Neji. No sooner had she unleashed the first wave, her hand plucked another weapon and tossed it. Another one followed swiftly after that, and then another. She paused to watch as over a dozen of her projectiles sped towards Neji, but then frowned. Whatever satisfaction she had been nurturing vanished when she saw the young ninja just standing there, placidly viewing the tidal wave of weapons speeding towards him. The bastard was still underestimating her!

Moments before the first wave of kunai was upon him, Neji's body dropped down to a crouch, and he spread his arms wide. He yelled something, and suddenly a dome of swirling, yellow light sprang up from the ground and engulfed him. Tenten's weapons struck the glowing veil, but it might as well have been a concrete wall for all the effect it had. Her arsenal bounced off the barrier of light and fell uselessly to the forest floor.

""Y-you can do that?" Gasped Tenten. She gaped in fascination as Neji's luminous shield faded, revealing the young Hygua's form spinning rapidly. Gradually, he decelerated until he came to a standstill. "

"Hakkeshou Kaiten," Neji answered. "The Heavenly Spin."

Tenten was speechless. For months now she had observed Neji's duels, carefully keeping track of each and every one of his techniques to exploit weaknesses in them. She knew there were not many to begin with. The extent of his Byakugan gave him almost three-hundred-and-sixty degree vision, allowing him to see an attack from virtually anywhere. But this technique, this Heavenly Spin…Tenten had never seen Neji use it before. She had imbedded each of her kunai with chakra to increase their velocity to a point where it would be impossible for Neji to deflect them, and yet his technique had effortlessly blocked her attack.

"You're the first one I've shown this too, Tenten." Neji continued. "Because you were brave enough to seek me out and challenge me."

The young markswoman felt a rush of pride swell in her body. To show a ninja a secret technique was a sign of utmost respect. There were few greater honors for it meant either identifying one another as trusted allies or as an equal enemy. Which Neji meant to relay at the moment, Tenten was unsure. However, she did notice herself involuntarily blushing in the face of Neji's unprecedented praise. Quickly, she retorted, "You're not as scary as you think, Neji."

From her belt, Tenten hefted two scythes she had constructed and tossed one to her left hand. She twirled them deftly and prepared for Neji's assault. Ranged weapons were no good against Neji's defense; she would have to settle this in melee combat.

Neji jumped forward, his leg lashing out at Tenten. She ducked under it and cut at Neji's torso, but he flipped over it in mid-air and landed on the ground. Her other scythe tore at his face, forcing him to block the shaft of her weapon with his arm. Gritting her teeth, Tenten tried to overpower Neji, but the strength he exerted was unbelievable. It was like trying to push past a wall. With a grunt of frustration, she whirled away, slicing at Neji's head as she retreated. He leaned back, allowing the stone blade to pass a hairsbreadth from his face, but made no move to pursue Tenten.

"Not bad," Tenten commented. "You're strong, but to be honest, I'm disappointed."

She charged forward, slashing at Neji's body with her right scythe, and when he nimbly stepped to the side to avoid it, she struck with her left. He parried it casually, but Tenten had expected that. She smiled. He was concentrating on the two scythes in her hands and could not see what she could –the concealed third and fourth scythe that was now hurling through the air towards the back of Neji's head. Though Neji could not see them, his white-eyes suddenly widened when he heard the additional weapons soaring at him, and with a muttered curse he leaped into the air.

"Not so fast!" Tenten shouted. Her hands shifted, controlling the threads of chakra she had attached to the weapons before she had thrown them. The scythes responded to her touch immediately, altering their trajectory to pursue Neji.

"Kaiten!" Neji yelled. His body spun, faster and faster until he became a whirlwind of blurry motion, and then the sphere of light consumed him. The two scythes were battered harmlessly away by the cyclone of speed and chakra, but when Neji landed on the ground, he noticed that his right arm was bleeding. Droplets of blood spilled on the grass from a deep gash below his elbow where his Heavenly Spin had failed to deflect the scythe. Gritting his teeth in pain, Neji exhaled deeply, shaken by how narrowly he had escaped Tenten's ambush.

"How…how did you know about the flaw in my Kaiten?" Neji asked as Tenten approached. There was only one flaw in his technique, one blind spot that could be exploited only if an enemy knew exactly where it was. And Tenten had found it. "I've never shown you it before today."

"You haven't, but Hinata has." Tenten admitted. "I was surprised because I didn't think you could use it because…well…"

"Because I'm not from the Main Family," He finished for her bitterly. A thought struck Neji. "You've been practicing for this fight, haven't you? You've been training with Hinata because we both use the same fighting style."

Tenten smirked wryly. "Guilty as charged. It seems all that practice was unnecessary though. You're not as good as everyone raves. "

"Really?" asked Neji. There was nothing in his voice. No hurt, no curiosity, no embarrassment. Nothing. "Then let me show you something Hinata never has."

She never saw it coming. One second Neji was standing several feet away and then the next he was suddenly in front of her. The tip of his hand shot out towards her face, giving Tenten only a second to move out of the way. It sped past, imbedding itself deeply into the tree behind, but that did not slow down Neji. Before Tenten could mount a counterattack, Neji struck again, his hands a flurry of motion as they rained down a blur of attacks that Tenten could barely defend. Her danced to intercept each blow as they came, but several times she wasn't fast enough to keep up and the sharp point of his hand would penetrate her defenses, painfully impacting against her flesh.

Again and again his blows came, each time faster than the last until Tenten could barely keep track of them. More and more slipped past her guard, sending waves of blinding pain through her body with each successful impact. She heard fabric tear as the integrity of her jumpsuit gave way to Neji's furious assault, but she could do nothing to stop it.

"Damn it!" Tenten cried. She lashed out blindly at Neji. He blocked it easily, but it gave her time to escape from his onslaught. She stumbled backwards and the scythes dropped from her hands. Her head felt light and her body screamed in agony. Against a normal opponent, she could have easily shrugged off the beating she had sustained. But each strike from Neji was like a dozen from a regular ninja because of the way his clan channeled their chakra into their attacks. It was another feature that made them so powerful.

Tenten barely even notice that the torso section of her jumpsuit had torn away during the skirmish, revealing far more flesh than she would normally feel comfortable showing to a boy. But she was in no shape to think about that much, a fact that testified to her exhaustion. Her outfit was one of her most prized possessions. She claimed it came from an aunt that was a legendary ninja, and always wore it. Even during PE class when everyone else wore uniforms, Tenten would wear her jumpsuit, ignoring the reprimands she received. She was one of the best ninjas out of all the girls; the Hokage didn't care as long as her grades stayed up.

Wearily, she looked at it and groaned. Her jumpsuit was ripped from her waist to just blow her chest, exposing her naked abdomen and a glimpse of the training bra she wore beneath. She noticed Neji staring at her, but he seemed so far away. Too shocked and too much in pain to blush or even cover herself, Tenten was satisfied to collapse on her knees. Neji kneeled down beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Gentle Fist Style, Sixty-Four Hands of Hakke," said Neji.

"Too…too fast." murmured Tenten blearily. "I thought…I thought I was disappointed. T-thought you weren't scary."

"No, you were right. I'm really not as scary as people make me out to be."

Tenten couldn't believe her ears. She thought she might be hallucinating from the pain. It was the most personal thing she had ever heard Neji say. Her knees suddenly gave way, and her body pitched against Neji's. He instinctively grabbed her to stop her from falling on the ground, and Tenten's head came to a rest on his shoulder.

"I'm glad." She whispered into his ear, smiling. Up close, he felt so warm, not at all like the cold that his icy persona alluded to. Tenten could hear his breathing, shallower and more erratic than usual, probably the result of his first up close encounter with a girl. Was he blushing? Did he like what he saw? She wasn't as well endowed as some of the other girls in the class, but maybe Neji wouldn't care. Then again, up until then, she thought Neji didn't care at all, one way or the other. Boys could be so weird sometimes.

_Maybe you're more human than we believed, _Tenten thought. _Maybe you're alright after all._

Neji felt the girl go limp in his arms as unconsciousness finally took her. She had fought it well. Most of his opponents blacked out before he got halfway through Sixty-Four Hands. Slowly, he eased her to the ground and then scavenged for the torn fragment of her jumpsuit that had ripped off during their fight. He carefully placed it over the gaping hole in Tenten's outfit and then backed away, satisfied that her modesty was protected. She was an attractive girl, but Neji would not stoop himself to such a barbaric level to exploit a situation like this.

Still, she was the best opponent he had faced in quite some time. Given the proper equipment and a little bit more training, Tenten had the potential to even become a worthy sparring opponent. Well, Lee might be a little better, but she was definitely prettier. And a lot less annoying.

"Neji…" Tenten whispered. Startled, Neji looked at her. He thought she had passed out, but maybe she had just fallen asleep from exhaustion. He watched her for a few more minutes, but when she said nothing more, he shrugged it off. While it was slightly odd that he might be entertaining Tenten in some fashion or another in her dreams, Neji did not have time to dwell on it. The game was still on.

Still, as he sped off into the trees towards the front line, Neji concluded one thing: Girls could sure be pretty weird sometimes.

----------------

Author's Notes:  
ZOMG! Another romantic encounter in the forest only with ninja fighting! Cause, y'know, that's how ninjas flirt and stuff. By beating up on each other. Thanks for the huge amount of reviews I received last chapter. That made my week. If they keep coming at that pace I won't have an excuse not to prioritize this story over the rest of my work. Anyway, I'll keep this updated pretty regularly.

Took a little while to write this chapter because Neji is a bit more of a complex character than Naruto to write. That and I had finals to study for and I got sick. And I was busy beating Kingdom Hearts for Playstation 2 (three years late, yes I know). Speaking of Kingdom Hearts is it just me or is that one of the biggest fandoms for yaoi pairings? I was looking for some good, wholesome, family friendly KH fanfiction and there was nothing but Sora and Riku pairings. It boggled the mind. I was also busy with the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II which defies belief at how cool it is. If you're as big of a fan of Final Fantasy as I am, Kingdom Hearts II has enough cameos to make you squeal with glee like a thirteen year old girl. Even if you're an eighteen year old male. For shame.

Alright, I've spent enough time rambling on about nonsense stuff. Time to stop wasting your time. Thanks for reading. Be sure to drop a review in case I haven't bugged you enough about that.


	5. Chapter 5

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto who probably works as a ninja part time so that the authenticity of Naruto remains upheld. Because everyone knows ninjas could summon giant frogs and shoot fireballs and all that jazz. This fanfiction is mine and should not be reproduced without my consent because I work hard writing fanfiction instead of doing my homework.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Five: Oh My God! You Killed Naruto! **

It was end game now, Naruto knew, and caution was everything. He had done well thus far, avoiding the girl's sentries as he snuck deeper and deeper into their territory undetected. Some of the boy's had not faired as well. He had seen a squad with Kyo in it ambushed almost an hour ago, and every single of them had been captured. In the boy's territory, the periodic updates Naruto received from passing team members confirmed that the situation was more or less the same. More than half of the members of both teams had been already captured, leaving probably only enough personnel for a few more strategic strikes at one another's flags. Chances were the play that would decide the outcome of the game would happen pretty soon.

He narrowed his eyes and gazed through a break in the bushes he was hiding behind. In the middle of a small clearing ahead, he spotted Sakura, Ino, and a pretty black-haired girl standing around a flag. Naruto had been watching them for the last few minutes, waiting to see if any of them would leave. It was unlikely. The girls knew the game was close to an end too and that a last minute attack was inevitable.

As good as he was, Naruto doubted he could distract three girls long enough to slip off with their flag. Even a Mass Shadow Replication technique would not work. If he created too few replications the girls' would easily defeat them, but if he made too many there was a high chance of his clones running into one another. He scratched his chin, pondering his options.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" A voice whispered from behind him. Startled, Naruto turned around and saw Sasuke, Choji and Shikamaru emerge from the shadows. They crouched down beside the Naruto, and Sasuke fixed him with an angry glare.

"You idiot," He hissed venomously. "Why the hell did you leave your position? Shikamaru was counting on your Shadow Replication technique to hold the line!"

Resentful at Sasuke's accusations, Naruto merely scowled. "What do you care, Sasuke?"

"I care because we almost got our flag stolen, you moron! You should have stayed at your post!" The young Uchiha snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Naruto returned fiercely.

Sasuke sneered. "You didn't do much of anything as far as I'm concerned."

Seeing the furious look on Naruto's face, Shikamaru quickly intervened between the two feuding ninjas. "Cut it you two." He said sternly, ignoring the angry looks directed at him from Sasuke and Naruto. "What's done is done. We have to focus on now."

"Fine," Sasuke conceded coldly, still glaring at Naruto.

"Yeah, fine." Naruto replied. "Just don't expect me to work with this jerk."

"Well you're going to have to, Naruto." Shikamaru said impatiently. "The way I see it there's only the four of us left. I lost contact with Neji's squad a while ago and I have no idea what they're up to. Up ahead there are three girls and at least four more patrolling the area. I think we need every ninja available working together, wouldn't you agree?"

A long moment passed between Sasuke and Naruto, and for a second Shikamaru wasn't sure they would be willing to reconcile, even in the face of adversity. The tension between the two wasn't the product of any bad blood per say, more of a jealousy on Naruto's part of Sasuke's talent that had one day developed into undisguised hostility. It seemed immature for Naruto to dislike Sasuke solely because the young Uchiha was more gifted, but then again, Sasuke did not help matters with his occasionally cruel taunting and hurtful jibes.

Finally, it was Sasuke who extended his hand. Naruto hesitated, the reluctance on his face evident as he looked at Sasuke, but finally he took it. They shook roughly and released hands very quickly as if the mere touch of the other was offensive.

"Alright then," Shikamaru said relieved. "Now don't we all feel better?"

"No," said Sasuke.

"Not really," Naruto agreed.

"I'm hungry," Choji grumbled. He was busy munching on a bag of chips that Shikamaru had not seen him holding earlier. Where Choji had procured them from, the clever strategist did not even want to imagine. "Hurry up, Shikamaru, so we can go eat."

Shikamaru sighed. This was all so troublesome he wondered why he even bothered.

"Ok, guys listen up," He gestured for them to gather around him, picked up a stick, and began drawing into the dirt. "This is the plan."

-------------------

Ino sat at the base of a tree, twirling a dead branch idly. "I hope they come soon. This is getting boring."

"A ninja knows infinite patience." said the black-haired girl. This was Kawada Keiko, a trim, pretty girl with shoulder length hair and a penchant for using her chakra to control plants. At the moment, she was sitting atop a group of bushes that she had manipulated into forming a comfortable cushion.

"All this patience will be worth it if Sasuke comes." Ino said with a wink in Sakura's direction. "I certainly wouldn't mind letting him capture me."

Sakura did not respond; partially because she was too busy gnashing her teeth together. Ino was her childhood best friend, but when it came to their shared affection for Sasuke, even seventeen years of shared friendship could not stand in the way. Ino said things like that just to jibe her friend because she was well too familiar with Sakura's quick temper. Sakura knew she meant nothing by it, similar to how the two had harassed Hinata in the locker room, but then why the sudden overwhelming urge to punch Ino right in her pretty face?

"She's thinking of punching me, isn't she, Keiko?" Ino asked laughing.

"Most likely," Keiko agreed.

Sakura snorted and rolled her eyes. "I don't like Sasuke _that _much."

"But you would give up all your worldly possessions for a chance to kiss him," replied the blonde-haired ninja unbelievingly.

Sakura froze in place, a chilling cold descending down her spine. How could Ino have known what she was thinking? It then occurred to her, and, severely annoyed, she rounded on her friend. "Damn it, Ino, stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?" Ino asked innocently.

"That! Your stupid mind reading thing! I know you just used it on me!"

Ino smiled sweetly. She belonged to the Yamanaka clan, a family of ninjas that specialized in the arts of the human psyche. With a full blown assault of Ino's powers, she could actually wrest control of an unsuspecting opponent's mind, but it required an incredible amount of concentration and energy to use effectively. However, entering someone's mind and picking up surface thoughts was child's play for someone as trained as Ino.

"You should have protected that thought better then, Sakura." She said.

Sakura shot a murderous glare at her friend. "Fine, tell me what I'm thinking right now."

Ino closed her eyes, focusing her chakra to enter Sakura's mind, and when they opened, the young girl looked appalled. "That's not a very nice thing to think about your best friend!" She shouted indignantly.

"Oh, but it's so true." The pink-haired ninja replied wickedly.

Keiko looked at Ino curiously. "Why? What was she thinking?"

"She was thinking I should go-"Ino's eyes perked up as something caught her attention. She stood up, staring out into the trees to the left of their flag. "I thought I heard something in that direction."

Sakura rushed over to her friend and a smile formed on both of their lips as a figure stepped from the trees. "Speaking of the devil…" She whispered.

"Well, hello there, Sasuke." Ino said, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously at the young Uchiha who had just stepped out of the trees. Beside her, Sakura's arm began to twitch erratically. "What brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"Your flag, actually," Sasuke replied casually. "I was hoping I could persuade you to part with it."

Ino chuckled. "Sorry, Sasuke, I'm afraid I can't just give you our flag." A slow, sneaky grin formed on her face. "But…maybe if you could make it worth our while I could arrange something."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, there are some bushes a few meters away I think you should check out with me if you know what I mean." Ino said with a playful wink.

Keiko leaped down from her throne of bushes. "Hold on, Ino. You're going to give him our flag just so you can make out with Sasuke?'

"Sure, why not?" Ino asked. "It's just a flag."

"A flag that means our grade," clarified Keiko.

Ino shrugged and leaned over to Keiko. "I would fail Instructor Asuma's class any day to make out with someone as hot as Sasuke." She hissed into her classmate's ear. Turning back to Sasuke, she said, "So what do you think, Sasuke? Interested in my offer?"

Sasuke smirked. "Well…if I have to…"

Sakura quickly stepped in front of Ino. "You don't want to do that, Ino."

"Oh god, not you too, Sakura," The blonde-haired psychic groaned. "Just because you fantasize about making out with Sasuke when I can actually do it doesn't mean-"

"No it's not that." Sakura interjected. She walked closer to Sasuke and looked him in the eye. "You don't want to do that, Ino, because that isn't Sasuke."

"What?" Exclaimed Keiko and Ino simultaneously.

"Yeah, what are you talking about, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"Look at his eyes. They're a shade off." Sakura pointed out. The only reason why she knew this was from the hours she had spent staring dreamingly into Sasuke's hazel eyes during third period history class, but that wasn't something Ino needed to know. "I say this isn't Sasuke, but some shoddy transformation work."

Sasuke looked at Sakura with an odd expression. "Are you feeling, alright, Sakura? Not a little crazy maybe?"

"And listen to how he acts, Ino. Would the Sasuke you know actually agree to such a stupid request?" Sakura continued.

"Well, maybe his taste has become more refined. I don't know." Ino said dismissively. She closed her eyes as if in deep thought, but Sakura knew she was secretly probing Sasuke's mind. If it was really a fake, they would be hiding their identity too deep for Ino to uncover, but she would definitely be able to pick up enough thoughts to decide if Sasuke's identity was really as he claimed.

Ino finished her search very quickly. Her eyes snapped open, and she shrieked and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh my god! He's imagining me naked! You pervert!"

"Am I the only one who has no idea what's going on?" asked Sasuke.

"We're saying you're a fraud!" Sakura declared. "The real Sasuke would never walk in here so casually and undress my friend with his eyes! He would be more-"

"Perfunctory?" Keiko offered.

"I guess that works," Sakura agreed. "And if you're not Sasuke, then who exactly are you?"

Sasuke chuckled to himself softly. "Well, I guess the game is up." A billowing cloud of smoke rose from the ground, concealing Sasuke from sight. When it dissipated, standing there where Sasuke had once been was now…

"Shikamaru!" Ino screamed, absolutely mortified. "Gah! I almost kissed you!"

"So close too," the clever strategist said with a sheepish grin. "If it hadn't been for Sakura…how troublesome."

"It's going to be troublesome alright," the Yamanaka clan ninja roared. "Troublesome for you, like when I kick your ass!"

Shikamaru cocked his head to the side. "Sorry, as much as I would enjoy you kicking my ass any day, Ino, I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check." Before any of the girls could stop him, his hands fell into a rapid series of hand seals, smoothly shifting from one to the other. He clasped both hands together tightly, and screwing his eyes closed with concentration, he yelled, "Shadow Bind technique!"

Sakura cursed under her breath. Along with being a genius, Shikamaru had inherited the token ability of the Nara Clan –the power to control shadows. A pool of darkness had formed under Shikamaru, and from it, three black lines shot out and were racing across the floor. Sakura, who was expecting it the moment Shikamaru, had dispelled his illusion, leaped far away from him, out of the range of his technique. Keiko and Ino, however, were caught by the Shadow Bind. Instantly, their bodies locked up as their shadows were captured by Shikamaru.

"Now!" Shikamaru shouted. From the trees, Sasuke and Naruto jumped forward. Sakura swore again. Against Naruto she stood a good chance of defeating him, but against a prodigy like Sasuke there was little hope. Still, she couldn't very well just let them take the flag unopposed.

Sasuke nudged Naruto. "Remember the plan. Run interference while I grab the flag."

"What?" Naruto exclaimed incredulously. "Why should I let you take the glory of stealing the flag?"

"Naruto, now is not the time!" Shikamaru bellowed from behind them. "I can only hold them for a few more minutes!"

Naruto's lip curled unpleasantly. This was his moment of glory, not Sasuke's. Sure Shikamaru had told him the plan, but he would be damned if he allowed pretty-boy Sasuke to get all the attention again. No, it was his turn this time. He would show them all he could do just as good of a job as his rival could.

"Oh shit…" Sasuke muttered under his breath. He saw the mischievous gleam in Naruto's eye as the troublemaking ninja lustfully stared at the flag. "He's going to do something stupid."

Sometimes Sasuke hated being right all the time. It was great during school and all that, but in these occasions he sometimes wished people like Naruto would prove him plain wrong. But they never did. They were so predictable that way. With a wordless cry, Naruto charged for the flag. Sakura threw a vicious punch at him, but from nowhere, a dozen of Naruto's replications suddenly sprang out of the air to embrace her blow. A few disappeared in a cloud of obscuring smoke as Sakura's fist tore through them, but it gave Naruto the distraction to make a grab for the flag.

He snatched the flag, tearing the metal pole out of the ground, and sped away. Clutching the flag to his chest like his first born son, he ran into the forest. A second later, Sakura shot out of the smoke and raced after him with all the mannerism of a charging bull. Sasuke just watched quietly. He thought about giving Naruto some help, but then decided against it. The idiot had made his own play; as far as Sasuke was concerned, he would just have to live with it.

Sasuke walked over to Shikamaru who had released his Shadow Bind the moment he saw Naruto snag the flag. The strategist sat down, slightly exhausted from using so much chakra. "Well that went well." He muttered to the last of the Uchiha clan.

"As well as things ever go when Naruto is involved." Sasuke agreed.

A moment passed of silence between them, and then Shikamaru asked, "Think Sakura is going to kick his ass?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I hope so."

---------------

Naruto ran faster than he ever had before. Leaping from tree branch to tree branch, he soared through the forest with the flag in toll. His legs screamed in protest from the abuse, but he tried his best not to listen to their futile pleads for a brief respite. The moment he stopped every girl would converge on him, and the result of a massacre like that could not be pretty. He bounded over a particularly large tree branch in his way, landed on it, and without a moment of hesitation, leaped towards the next one with all the ease and grace of a monkey.

_I'm going to make it, _Naruto thought, clutching the flag even tighter in his hands. He might actually do it. The line marking the boy's territory was close by. Triumph was close at hand, and with it, the recognition he craved because only a truly skilled ninja could bring the flag back single handedly

"Not so fast you pervert!"

_Oh shit!_

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto spotted something pink streaking through the air. It was moving at an incredible speed and within moments had overtaken Naruto even at the rate he was running. It sped on for a few more meters, but then abruptly stopped, coming to a rest directly in Naruto's way. The young ninja realized then it was not something, but someone waiting for him only a few meters ahead. A very angry someone in fact. He dug his heels into the ground, trying to slow himself down so he could change direction, but it was already too late.

The last thing he saw was the look of rage on Sakura and her fist rocketing towards his face. An incredible pain filled him, but it was brief, replaced soon after by a detached sort of numbness. A loud crack echoed in his ears, and something warm sprayed all over his face, but he could barely feel it. There was darkness looming on the edge of his vision, threatening to overtake him. He tried to fight it, but he suddenly felt too weak to hold it off. It consumed him, eclipsing his sight with visions of eternal darkness.

And then he knew no more.

--------------

Sakura smiled in satisfaction as she felt her fist connect firmly with the front of Naruto's face. His head snapped back so violently that his forehead protector ripped off, and his body was lifted off the ground from the impact of the blow. Blood sprayed everywhere, but at the moment, Sakura did not worry. She was hoping to at least make his nose bleed, to give him a little reminder not to mess with her ever again. The pink-haired ninja was still smiling as his body hit the ground with a loud _thud _and rolled over so he was staring at the sky.

"That's for this morning, pervert." Sakura said viciously.

Naruto did not respond. This instantly caught Sakura's attention. In the many years that she had known Naruto, never had he failed to come up with some witty response or pithy comeback. Maybe he was still too stunned from the suddenness of her punch to reply, or perhaps he was too embarrassed at having just been trounced by a girl.

Laughing, she walked over to Naruto's sprawled form. "Naruto, enough. You can get up now." But Naruto did not stir. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed in concern and she looked down at the blonde-haired ninja suspiciously. If he was playing some sort of trick on her she would give him a lot more than just a bloody nose.

But he wasn't playing a trick. Upon looking closer, Sakura's eyes widened in alarm. The blood wasn't coming just from his nose. It was everywhere, streaming down from his forehead in a rivulet of crimson. With a cry of dismay, she dropped down beside Naruto and began gently shaking him.

"Naruto, are you alright?" She asked fearfully, nudging his shoulder like a mother trying to wake her son from a long sleep. But when Naruto did not stir, she shook him frantically. "Naruto! C'mon. Stop playing around. Wake up."

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed loudly. When he still did not awake, the realization of her actions sunk in, filling her with dread and horror at what she had done. Tears of regret welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She had wanted to hurt him a little, but not like this. There was so much blood staining Naruto's pale skin. She had to have hurt him badly for there to be that much.

Drawn to Sakura's panicked cries, Shikamaru appeared in the clearing, followed by Choji, Ino, Sasuke, and a large group of other students. The game was apparently over, and they had come to investigate the disturbance. When they saw Naruto's bloody unconscious body, some began to scream in alarm. None of them moved, though Sakura could hardly blame them. Not a single member of their year was skilled in the advanced medical techniques that Naruto's wounds required; they could do no more than Sakura could to help their classmate.

"Someone get a medic!" Shikamaru yelled to the crowd. To Sakura, he asked, "What the hell happened?"

"I-I…" stuttered Sakura. How could she tell him that she had done this to Naruto? How could she tell him that she had hurt his friend? "I hit him."

"Hit him?" exclaimed Shikamaru in disbelief. "You just hit him?"

Sakura's lip quivered and a torrent of fresh tears sprang from her eyes. Fortunately, she was spared the torture of elaborating by the speedy arrival of Konoha's medical squad.

"Out of the way, out of the way, quick," someone yelled from the back of the crowd. The sea of students spread to allow the passage of one of the medical ninjas, a white-haired man clad in a purple tunic and leggings. His glasses bouncing precariously on the bridge of his noise as he ran, the healer dropped down beside Naruto and reached into his pouch.

Sakura watched horrified as the medical ninja went to work, removing bandages from his pouch and quickly wrapping them around Naruto's head. They did little to stem the flow of blood, soaking the bandages and seeping around them. Blood spilled all over the healer's tunic as he secured additional bandages around the unconscious boy, but he seemed oblivious to it. He tossed the roll of bandages aside and placed both his hands on Naruto's forehead.

"Please…help him," Sakura begged weakly. She felt so helpless, a mere spectator to a grisly accident that had been her fault.

Glowing flames sprung around the medic's hands as he transferred his chakra into Naruto, willing his energy to help mend the wounded ninja's grievous wound. Minutes past in silence, and no one spoke in fear of distracting the white-haired ninja's work. Finally, after what seemed to last an eternity, his hands left Naruto's forehead. He stepped back, droplets of crimson dripping from his fingertips, and wiped the sweat from his face.

"Is he alright?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"I stabilized him. He needs immediate medical attention though. A squad should be here any minute." The medic said. "That was a close one."

"A close one?" She asked, her voice quivering with anxiety.

"It was strange…he really should have been killed instantly, "The healer mused. "Whatever hit him broke his neck and seriously fractured his skull. It's a miracle he was still alive so I could repair some of the damage."

The medic might not have known what hit Naruto, but the students did. Upon hearing the healer's words, many of them began to murmur, casting fearful glances at Sakura. It was a cardinal sin to kill a ninja from the same village. Everyone knew that, just as everyone knew Sakura was out for revenge against Naruto. The logical conclusion was a damning one, one that terrified the pink-haired ninja. She had meant to hurt Naruto, but never, never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she would come close to killing him.

"I didn't mean to…" She whispered, tears streaming freely from her eyes once again. "I didn't mean to hurt him like this…it was an accident."

"You did that?" The healer looked at Sakura. She expected him to be angry or shocked, but instead he looked almost impressed. "That's quite a punch you have there, Miss Sakura."

"But I didn't…"

Whatever else Sakura was going to say to the medical ninja died in her throat when the rest of the medical ninjas appeared. Clad in white, they appeared in a cloud of smoke. With them was a stretcher which they laid down and quickly transferred Naruto's unmoving body onto.

"Kabuto, we're ready to move him." One of the medics said. The white-haired healer nodded, and together they hefted the stretcher to their shoulders. They disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, leaving a bewildered senior class standing on the blood soaked field without any idea of what to do next.

Ino walked forward and gently hugged her friend. "Are you alright, Sakura?" She asked.

"I…didn't mean to hurt him." Sakura replied unsteadily. "I mean I did, but…"

"It's fine." Ino consoled. "No one thinks you hurt Naruto on purpose."

But she was lying. Sakura knew she was. Ino was lying to comfort her like a true friend would, but the stares that came from the crowd said it all. Each one of their accusing looks said relayed the message that everyone was thinking.

_Sure he deserved him, _their looks said, _but did you really have to kill him? _

Sakura faced the crowd and screamed, "I didn't mean to!" The shame of her actions was too much for the young girl to bear. With a strangled sob she turned from her friends and ran from the field. She wished she could go back in time and fix her mistake. She wished she could have been more forgiving. She wished she had never done what she did.

But she had. She had almost killed Naruto, one of her friends.

And nothing could change that.

------

Author's Notes:  
Ever wonder if Sakura actually hurt Naruto when she slaps him around in the show? That's what. Of course this will lead to some sort of emotional showdown in the hospital. Will Sakura succumb to the sexual tension and confess some sort of romantic affection to our resident trouble making ninja or will she finish the job she started and kill him? All this and more in the next exciting chapter. Don't miss it!

This chapter is a little shoddy as it's longer than usual and I wrote it in only a couple days, so apologies. Wanted to finish this arc and move on to another one. Be sure to drop a review if you're reading this. Thanks.

-JAJapster


	6. Chapter 6

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I own Naruto. Just kidding. C'mon, laugh, you know it was funny. Anyway, Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and I'm just capitalizing on his creativity by writing fanfiction. And why does Microsoft word decide that Masashi is spelled right by Kishimoto isn't? Weird. Oh, and don't repost anywhere else.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Six: The Life of a Ninja**

_I love my job. I love my job. I love my job._

Tsunade closed her eyes and recited her private mantra to herself over and over again with the desperate desire that one day a lifetime of recitation might one day bring it to fulfillment. Until that day came, however, Tsunade resigned herself to the depressing fact that despite the importance her job held, it was one she absolutely could not stand. It had been nearly two decades now since the elders of the village had selected her to take on the prestigious mantel of Konoha's Hokage, and she still was not used to the hectic nature of her chosen profession. Not a day passed where Tsunade wistfully wished she had turned down the villager's offer and became something a little less stressful. Like a dentist.

_I love my job. I love my job. I love my job._

Pacing back and forth through the corridors of Konoha's Hospital Wing, Tsunade ignored the stares she was receiving from the doctors and nurses as they patrolled from room to room, inspecting their patients. It was unusual to see the busty, blonde Hokage out of her office and away from the mountains of paperwork that still waited for her there, and many of the ninjas and villagers were still not used to the idea that the temperamental female ninja was their leader. Never mind that she had been faithfully serving the village for seventeen years now, to some Tsunade would always be the granddaughter of the First Hokage or the successor of the Fourth and nothing more.

"Tsunade," A voice called. Turning around, Tsunade spotted the speaker, an older looking man wearing a wide, red overcoat, emerging from a room down the corridor. He looked at least sixty and had long gray hair that matched the color of his robes, but despite his elderly appearance, an aura of great energy still radiated around him. The wooden clogs he wore echoed noisily in the hallway as he walked towards the Fifth Hokage.

"Jiraiya," the Fifth Hokage said quickly. "What did you find out?"

Jiraiya scratched his grizzly mane of gray hair. "I reinforced the seal but…"

"It's not as strong as it used to be." Tsunade concluded grimly.

"I was not the one who created it, so that's the best I can do." The old ninja explained. "But to be honest, Tsunade, I'm not sure why you're so concerned about it. It did after all save the boy's life."

Tsunade glared at the other ninja. While he looked at least thirty years older than Tsunade, in truth, she was a year old than he was. The illusion of youth that Tsunade entertained was merely a façade conjured by an advanced medical technique that she specialized in.

"I'm concerned because that seal is the only thing that keeps _it _from coming back to life."

_It…_

An involuntary shudder ran down Tsunade's spine at the mere thought of the monstrosity that had come so close to destroying the village of Konoha seventeen years ago. The Kyubi no Yoko, or the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox as it had come be known to the fearful villagers, was an evil spirit in the form of gigantic fox that could raise tsunamis or flatten mountains with a single swish of one of its nine-tails. One fateful day it waged a war against Konoha, costing the village many of its brightest and most talented ninjas in the first day of the war alone, but the demonic incarnation simply could not be killed by conventional means. A kunai could not pierce its armor like hide and a technique, no matter how advanced, did little more to slow the beast's murderous rampage.

It had been a dark time. All of Konoha's military leaders were at a loss how to counter the Kyubi's assault and while most of the villagers had been safely evacuated, almost half of the village itself had fallen to the demon's destructive advance. Tsunade had been on the Fourth Hokage's Council at the time, and she could clearly remember the pervasive feeling of helplessness that gripped the village. Each day new ninjas would be killed in a futile attempt to fight off the Kyubi. They became another casualty, another name on the granite memorial slab chronicling all those who died in the service of Konoha.

"You mean the Kyubi." Jiraiya clarified.

Tsunade shook her head, her blonde hair flowing freely. "Just because the Fourth was your student, Jiraiya does not mean he was perfect. Anyone could have made a mistake making a seal that advanced, and letting that demonic monster loose is something I can not allow!"

"So what do you suggest?" Jiraiya snapped angrily. "Yondaime already killed himself sealing the Kyubi once; I don't think we can ask him to try again."

The Fifth Hokage bit her lip. Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage. A brilliant warrior and charismatic leader, the handsome blond haired ninja was one of the most respected ninjas in all of Konoha's history. Never before had Tsunade witnessed such courage as that demonstrated by the Fourth. He would often accompany the Jounin on their attacks on the Kyubi despite protests from his advisors, never leaving the battlefield until all of his troops were accounted for. He loved the village with all his heart, and it was ultimately this selfless devotion to Konoha that ended up killing him.

"I apologize, Jiraiya." Tsunade said remorsefully. "That was tactless of me to speak disrespectfully of the Fourth."

Jiraiya nodded but did not reply. Tsunade could tell her callous tone about Jiraiya's former student wounded the old man more than he was willing to let on. He had been there when Yondaime died after all. Ignoring all warnings from his council, Jiraiya's apprentice attempted an incredibly dangerous sealing technique to imprison the Kyubi's essence within a human container. His desperate gamble was successful and sealed the Kyubi inside the host he had selected, a new born baby boy, but the moment the technique was complete, Yondaime collapsed. The sealing process had drained too much of his energy, and despite the best efforts of Konoha's medics, the damage was too severe. Yondaime lingered for a few precious hours, saying farewell to his friends and comrades, but before the next sun rise came, the Fourth Hokage had passed on.

And what of the baby, the little boy who had unknowingly become the host of the most feared monster in the world? He was oppressed and disliked by the villagers who remembered the friends that had fallen to the monster that resided in him, and the poor boy lived his formative years confused, alienated by a society that hated him. But the boy persevered and had grown up to become a normal young man, an energetic ninja that had a knack for getting into all sorts of headache inducing trouble for Tsunade. That baby was Uzumaki Naruto.

"The rest is as you predicted," Jiraiya said after a period of silence.

"And Naruto is aware of none of this? He doesn't feel the presence of the Kyubi?" Tsunade wondered.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. But it is there nonetheless. As Naruto grows, the bond between him and the Kyubi grows stronger. Their chakra is also mixing together, giving Naruto powers beyond what he should be capable of."

"So for instance today when Naruto should have died…"

"The Kyubi stepped in and saved him from death out of self preservation," Jiraiya answered. "And I believe it will continue to function that way. As their bond strengthens, Naruto will begin to exert more control of the Kyubi's power until one day they'll fully merge."

"And what if it's the Kyubi that emerges and not Naruto?" queried Tsunade skeptically.

The elderly ninja shrugged. "I have every confidence in the seal the Fourth created, and I abide by his wishes. He wanted us to see Naruto as a hero who saved the village, not a container for the Kyubi. Even if he was wrong, it was his sacrifice and I wish to honor that. I'm surprised to hear that you think differently, Tsunade."

Tsunade scowled. "Maybe if you had not been such a coward and became Hokage instead of me you would understand."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." The old ninja replied with another dismissive shrug. He stretched his arms, wincing as his aged bones popped audibly in the quiet hallway. Yawning loudly as if he had just performed a wearisome day's labor, Jiraiya waved farewell to Tsunade and disappeared down the corridor. However, the Fifth Hokage was not alone for long. A minute later, two young girls warily approached Tsunade.

"Excuse me, Hokage." One of the girls said respectfully. Tsunade recognized them both. The pink-haired one was Sakura and the blonde was Ino. As Hokage, not only was Tsunade was the leader of the village, but the acting headmaster of Konoha High. Knowing her students was all part of the job. "Is it alright if we go in now?"

"Oh, right. I sort of forgot about you two" Tsunade replied sheepishly. She had told the two they could visit their classmate when she was done examining Naruto. That had been four hours ago. "Go right on in."

Ino hesitated and told her friend, "I think you should go ahead and see him alone first, Sakura."

"Are you sure?" She asked worriedly. Tsunade could not help but notice the chew marks on the pink-haired girl's nails, no doubt the result of hours anxiously waiting for the doctor's verdict on her friend.

Ino smiled and gave Sakura a reassuring hug. She pressed something into the other girls' hands and with a mischievous wink, she whispered, "You'll be all alone in there. If you're planning on making a move on him, now is you chance."

Tsunade smiled and walked off in the opposite direction of the two female ninjas. She could remember a time when she was as young as they were, a time when she made the same jokes and flirted with the same kind of boys. There once had been a time where she could laugh and be herself, but that had been a long time ago. All the blood and death witnessed in between now and then made it seem like an entirely different universe sometimes, a world so perfect that it could not possibly be real.

What had happened to her to make her think that way? Oh yeah, she had made the mistake of becoming Hokage and inherited the responsibilities and troubles of an entire country.

_I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. _

_------------------------_

Carefully closing the hospital door close behind her, Sakura stepped into Naruto's room. It was an austere sort of accommodation with two beds, one which was empty, and the other which was positioned underneath the room's singular window. Naruto rested in this one. Surrounding his bed were metal racks laden with glass jars full of multi-colored potions. Plastic tubes ran from the jars and disappeared into both of Naruto's arms, leading Sakura to believe that maybe the doctors had not been entirely honest with her. Why would Naruto require all these supplemental potions if he was perfectly alright?

As she drew nearer, for a moment, Sakura could have sworn she saw a massive tattoo on Naruto's bare stomach, a windmill of black marks that resembled a sort of confining seal emblazoned into his flesh. But when she moved to take a closer look, it had vanished. Could she have been imagining it? Shaking her head, Sakura smiled and let the thought go. It wasn't important right now.

"Feeling better?" She asked, sitting down on a chair beside his bed.

"Oh, yeah," answered Naruto, sitting up when he spotted his classmate. Indeed, he did look recovered, and if not for the bandages still wrapped around his head and the jars of potions, Sakura might have believed him. "The Hokage told me it wasn't anything serious. Just a bloody nose and a slight concussion; nothing I haven't had before."

"A bloody nose?" Sakura asked, confused. "But I was told…" Her words faded away as realization struck her.

_You're lying, Naruto, _She decided. Naruto was not stupid. Anyone could tell a rack full of medical potions was not required for a minor injury like the one he just described, then why the deceit? He should have known better than anyone how close to death he had come, so why was he lying to her? Was he trying to assuage her guilt?

Naruto looked at her, feigning curiously. "They told you what?"

"Oh nothing," Sakura replied hastily. If Naruto decided to conceal the truth from her, that was his decision. "Did you hear? You guys won Capture the Flag."

"Let me guess," Naruto said bitterly. "Sasuke recovered the flag and won, didn't he?"

Sakura turned her head, unable to meet Naruto's gaze, and merely nodded. Not only had she almost murdered Naruto, but she also ruined his chance for glory. While she had been angry at Naruto, even she could not deny that he deserved credit for taking the flag. His technique while making the steal was what ultimately earned them the win anyhow.

"It's alright." said Naruto abruptly. Surprised Sakura stared at the boy. She expected him to be resentful and angry, not grinning. "It was only a game, right?"

_You liar, _Sasuke thought, smiling softly. _This game meant everything to you. _That was the second time Naruto had lied to her. Was he doing this just to comfort her so she wouldn't feel guilty? Was he just like Ino, willing to lie just so she could feel better?

"Right," Sakura agreed softly. She reached into her pocket and extracted the forehead protector that Ino had given her. It was cracked and the cloth was caked in dried blood. Just looking at it made her feel terrible all over again. Fresh tears welled in her eyes when she thought of how close she had come to killing the smiling boy in the bed next to her, the boy who comforted her when he should be angry.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Naruto asked in concern when he spotted the tears. "Why are you crying?"

"I…I'm crying because I'm such a terrible person," Sakura sobbed. "You can forgive me for something like this so easily and I couldn't let something like the small embarrassment this morning slide."

Naruto leaned over and put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey Sakura, look at me." His other hand found her chin, and gently he raised her head so that she was looking into the blue depths of Naruto's eyes. "You're not terrible. You're a terrific person."

"How can you say something like that, Naruto?" Sakura asked, tears still streaming freely from her eyes. "After I've…" She gestured to the hospital bed and the bottles of potions feeding into Naruto's body through plastic tubes. "Done this to you?"

"Accidents happen," Naruto said dismissively.

"You don't get it!" Sakura wailed. "I didn't want to just stop you. I wanted to hurt you! It had nothing to do with the game. It was personal. I wanted to hurt you, to make you pay for this morning! It was no damn accident!"

Naruto stared at her. He didn't look surprised, as if he had known all along. "Oh." He said. The blonde-haired ninja looked away, gazing out the hospital window into the setting sun. Silence filled the empty hospital wing.

"You hate me, don't you." Sakura said quietly. It wasn't a question. Of course Naruto hated her. He was willing to comfort her when he thought it had all been an accident, but even he wouldn't stand by a person who had intentionally hurt him. No one was that forgiving.

But Naruto was a man of many surprises. When he turned back to face her, there was a small smile on his face. "How could I hate a friend, Sakura? You always forgive your friends no matter."

"Friends?" Sakura whispered. With a strangled sob, she suddenly pulled Naruto in a fierce hug and buried her head in his shoulder. "I don't deserve to be your friend."

Naruto did not say anything as he had found himself in an unnerving, yet entirely pleasant situation. He felt the warmth of Sakura's firm breasts as they pressed against his bare chest, and he could only stare in amazement at how large and beautiful they looked only a few inches away from his face. The young ninja paused to thank whatever god had placed him in such a wondrous predicament, embraced in the arms of beautiful girl he secretly admired, and his eyes closed, treasuring the blissful moment. The only other times he had been this close to her, Naruto acknowledged ruefully, was when Sakura was seconds away from punching him.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, raising her head off his shoulder. Her eyes were red from crying and her normally tidy pink hair was disheveled. Nonetheless, Naruto still thought she looked beautiful.

"Yeah?"

"Am I really your friend?"

The injured ninja nodded. "Of course."

Sakura smiled and made a brave attempt to wipe away her tears. "Thanks."

There was a conflicted look on Naruto's face as if he was struggling to decide whether or not to say something. The situation was so perfect, he would never forgive himself if he said something tactless now and incurred Sakura's wrath again. Exhaling deeply, like a man approaching the gallows, he said to Sakura, "I'm really sorry about embarrassing you this morning."

_A boy wants to look up your skirt, Sakura? My, shouldn't you feel flattered?_

The words Ino had spoken to her in the locker room flashed through Sakura's mind. Looking at Naruto, shirtless and wrapped in bandages like a mummy, she thought that maybe Ino was right. Maybe there was something cute about Uzumaki Naruto, something appealing about the trouble making ninja that Sakura had overlooked for all these years. Maybe Naruto was not just the perverted little dork that Sakura had characterized him as, but someone worthy of admiration and recognition.

She leaned over near Naruto. The blonde-haired ninja flinched, half expecting to be punched again, and was surprised when Sakura planted a soft kiss on his cheek. Too stunned to say anything, he quietly rubbed the spot where Sakura's lips had touched, a shocked expression on his face.

"Get some rest," Sakura told him. She placed his headband on his bed, and without a word, she turned and left the hospital room.

_Then again, _Sakura thought, _maybe I'm just going crazy. _

_----------------------------_

"I'm home!" Inuzuka Kiba declared noisily as he tossed his school bag on the floor. The Inuzuka clan's home was almost impossible to distinguish from an animal pound, only all the animals were wolves, and none of them were in cages. Hounds of every size and color lounged about their house, sleeping lazily on chewed up pieces of furniture or feasting from giant bowls of food that were scattered periodically on the ground. As Kiba walked into the living room, a dozen of the wolves turned their heads and barked a quick greeting before returning to whatever they were doing. Only one of the beasts, a medium sized white hound with narrow eyes, pandered over and nuzzled his nose against Kiba's legs.

"Hey there, Akamaru." Kiba said, rubbing the dog's head affectionately. Of all the wolves that belonged to his family's clan, Akamaru was the only one that officially belonged to him. He had grown up with the white canine and seldom did was one seen with the other. When Akamaru was little, Kiba would smuggle him to school in his jacket, but eventually the wolf had grown a little too large for that. Nowadays Akamaru mostly stayed home, waiting for his master to return from school. "Miss me?"

Akamaru licked Kiba's face in affirmation, wagging its tail happily.

"Hey little brother," A female voice called. Descending down a flight of stairs was a girl clad in brown and wearing the green flack vest of a Konoha Chunin. She was slightly smaller than Kiba with long brown hair, and the red streaks on either of her cheeks identified her as a member of the Inuzuka clan. "Good day at school?"

Kiba nodded and flopped down on the couch, shoving over a particularly old wolf that had been lying there. Akamaru curled up beside him. "It was pretty cool, I guess, Hana. What were you up to?"

Inuzuka Hana walked into the kitchen and searched through their refrigerator. She emerged a minute later holding two bottles of juice, and sat down on the arm rest beside her brother. "Busy as usual. It's amazing how many animals are in Konoha."

Kiba nodded appreciatively. His sister was the village's top veterinarian, choosing a life of medicine over the combat oriented missions that his mother and father, both Konoha Jonin, took on. Hana's talents were sought after far and wide, even occasionally from other villages, but Kiba was determined not to follow in her footsteps. As far as he was concerned, he and Akamaru were meant for only one thing: fighting.

"Mother and father are on an assignment," Hana said. She tossed Kiba a bottle and then opened her own. "Anything interesting happen today?"

"Sort of. We played Capture the Flag today. The boys won." Kiba took a long sip of juice and then offered it to Akamaru who promptly devoured the entire thing, plastic bottle and all. "Oh, and Naruto almost died today."

"That's nice. Now what did you want for-"Hana narrowed her eyes and looked at her brother. "Wait a minute? Who almost died today?"

"Naruto." Kiba answered. "You know that spiky-haired blonde guy in my class? Always jumping around and never shutting up? Makes my grades look good? Anyway, Sakura punched him out during Capture the Flag because he was looking up her skirt earlier and almost killed him. It was pretty awesome except for the entire Naruto almost dying thing."

"Naruto…" Hana whispered contemplatively. "You don't mean the Nine-Tails…"

Kiba shot her a dark look. The Fifth Hokage had forbidden the talk about the Nine Tailed Fox Demon Fox, a demonic spirit that had attacked Konoha eighteen years ago. Rumor had it that the Fox was defeated when the Fifth Hokage's predecessor sacrificed his life and sealed the demon's essence in a new born child. That child supposedly was Naruto. However, only the elders knew the full story, but none ever spoke of it.

Hana shrugged. "If he is then maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if he died."

"Yeah," Kiba muttered. "That's what I thought too for a while when I was little. I heard the rumors and I remember how angry the adults were at Naruto because of all the people who died. But I also remember how badly the other kids treated him because of it, and I don't know. I guess I felt kind of bad for him. Naruto really is a pretty cool guy once you get to know him."

Hana chuckled. "I was just joking." She leaned over and ruffled her brother's brown spiky hair. "You're turning into a sentimental old fart, little brother."

"Shut up, Hana." Kiba snapped. "Don't you have some important Chunin level work to be doing?"

His sister laughed mockingly and gracefully pranced off the couch. She fingered her green vest and stuck out her tongue at Kiba. "That's right, Kiba. We Chunin are very busy individuals unlike you lowly Genins."

Kiba snarled and tossed a nearby dog bone at his sister. Naturally he missed, and Hana, who was still laughing, went back up stairs. Konoha High Academy for Ninjas was divided into two sections, a primary and secondary level. Kiba and his classmates had already graduated from primary level when they were twelve, earning them the headband of a Konoha ninja and the lowest rank of Genin, and not until they passed secondary level would they be allowed a shot at the Chunin exams.

"We'll be Chunin soon enough, right Akamaru?" Kiba asked his hound.

Akamaru opened one eye and barked.

-----------------------------------------

Author's Notes:  
I'm such a hopeless cheesy romantic. I really am. So is this story going to be a NaruSak story or a NaruHina? Or is it going to be a SasSak or a KibaHina? Or is it going to be an OroOC? Or a KakaShizu? Or maybe even a NaruSas? Oh the possibilities!

Getting an idea of just how AU this story is? It's somewhat faithful to the main storyline, but the big alterations happen early on before Naruto is born. The Third dies, the Fourth takes over, but then sacrifices himself and then Tsunade succeeds him to become the Fifth. Also, Naruto's powers as the Kyubi's host aren't fully realized yet; it just happens to save his life this time around. I thought it was fun to write a brief blurb about Kiba's home life, especially after reading a particularly kickass story here about Kiba making a movie with Shino. If that doesn't sound awsome enough already, check it out if you want a humorous read.It's in my favorites if you're interested.

Sorry if this chapter seems a bit lacking in proof reading. The downside to my quicker updates is that I rarely have time to edit them as thoroughly as I would like.

Ninjutsu training next chapter with Kakashi! Naruto, determined to defeat Sasuke, decides to learn a legendary technique that no other ninja has ever mastered. Will he manage to do the impossible and save himself from failing the class? Make sure to check out chapter seven, **Great Teacher Kakashi, **coming soon to a fanfiction distributor near you!


	7. Chapter 7

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: It'd be freaking awesome if I did own Naruto. But I don't. Mourn with me. I did write this fanfic, so please be cool and don't repost it.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Seven: Great Teacher Kakashi **

The legend of Instructor Hatake Kakashi began when he was only a small child. When he was only six years old he graduated from the Academy, an unprecedented event that was still the point of controversy in some corners of the village, and quickly earned the rank of Chunin. From there, he secured the rank of Jounin at the age of eleven, and became a member of Konoha's elite, black-ops division, ANBU, when he was only fourteen. Only a select few what missions he performed while wearing the mask of Konoha's special force unit, but the result of his career as an ANBU assassin earned him international prestige as a dangerous opponent. From the smallest obscure ninja clan to the most prestigious village, everyone in the ninja world knew his face. Seldom few actually knew the exact reason why they feared him, but the air of mystery surrounding the man only served to enhance his legacy.

What happened next, people could only explain as a drasticdeclinein his career. Abruptly, twelve years after he first put on the animal mask of Konoha's black ops unit, Kakashi resigned from the ranks of ANBU, and despite pleading from his superior officers to reconsider, decided to resume his regular work as a Jounin. However, Tsunade would not hear of letting his exemplary talents go to waste running missions for rich merchants, and had reassigned him to educating the next generation of ninja. Much to everyone's surprise, Kakashi took the post teaching of Advanced Chakra Control without complaint, and for the last four years had been living the quiet life of an instructor.

While he was no longer ANBU, the same enigmatic aura swirled around the Jounin like an effervescent cloud. Even though the tall, white-haired ninja had known many of the Academy students for his four years as an instructor, he was still a mystery to them. For instance, none of them knew why he wore an abnormally large forehead protector across his head so that it concealed his right eye, nor could they explain that face-mask of his. An extension of the navy blue jumpsuit Konoha ninjas wore; the mask covered everything below Kakashi's eyes, and as far as anyone knew, no one had ever seen beneath it. Rumors concerning it were rampant. Some claimed it hid the key to an amazing technique, while others hypothesized it was just because their Instructor wore it to conceal bucked teeth or various other abnormalities.

But the speculation was just that –speculation. There had been several attempts, most made by Naruto and his cohort of eager companions, to find out what lay beneath Kakashi's mask, but all of their efforts failed miserably. He slept, bathed, and even ate somehow without lowering the navy blue covering. Even on the rare occasions that their instructor was seen out of uniform he still had some means of covering the lower regions of his face.

It was a mystery. And that was exactly the way Kakashi liked it.

Kakashi was a rare breed of instructor at the Academy. There were some who loved their job instructing youngsters like the rookie instructor, Yuhi Kurenai, and there were the type who resented their job like the chain smoking, Sarutobi Asuma. And then here was Hatake Kakashi who stood on his own little island in the sea of vast sea of stereotypes and generalizations. He never displayed a liking or a disliking for his job, only a stoic sort of indifference that relayed very little about what he was thinking. In fact, no one really knew what was going through the quiet ninja's head half the time, and seldom few ever summoned the courage to inquire. Kakashi might be an instructor at the Academy now, but once upon a time ago he was the most feared agent in ANBU, and apparently his reputation still preceded him.

He strolled into the courtyard exactly a half hour late for class, his nose buried in a small pink novella he always carried around. As expected, the moment he came within sight, his students began bombarding him with a hailstorm of rebukes and interrogating questions concerning his whereabouts. Not surprisingly, Naruto was one of the more vocal; Kakashi's perfect hearing easily identified the noisy ninja amidst the dissenting cries of the cacophonic rabble.

Closing his book loudly, Kakashi stowed it away in one of his vest pockets. Immediately the class that was so close to rioting a second ago fell silent. They could be as noisy as they pleased while Kakashi made his habitual tardy entrance into his lesson, but once he was ready to go, the students knew better than to continue. They had heard the rumors about their white-haired instructor after all. Everyone had.

"Sorry, I'm late class," He apologized with a smile. It was said about Kakashi that because no one ever saw his face, people had naturally learned to discern the Jounin's emotions through his only visible eye. Right now, for example, the senior year knew that their teacher was clearly smiling. "I ran into traffic on the way here."

A chorus of groans was the response to Kakashi's apparently unsatisfactory answer. He was always late for his own classes, and his supply of excuses had grown steadily worse over the years as he was forced to create new ones.

"You don't drive, teacher." one of the girls said.

"No one in the village does." added one of the boys.

"Ah, but if I did drive I would be stuck in traffic." Kakashi explained. Before the complete senselessness of his reply sank in with his students, the white-haired Jounin hastily moved on with his lesson. "As you know for the end of the semester final, I will be requiring you to display a high class technique for me that you've been practicing for the last two months."

He raised his right, glove covered hand and held it up for the class to see. Suddenly, it exploded in a pyre of blazing blue flames, drawing a few shocked gasps from his audience. The inferno sparkled and hissed, flickering viciously in the air, but despite its deadly appearance, the hand holding the flames appeared completely unharmed. Kakashi clenched his hand into a fist, extinguishing the fire in a wisp of curling smoke.

"Do not disappoint me." He said seriously, his single eye narrowing gravely. Then, as if nothing had happened, he continued to give instructions pleasantly. "Now if you will, please begin practicing. I'll walk around observing if you need any suggestions or help."

It was only a half class today, only eighteen out of the normal thirty-six, so each student had more individual space to train in the open field designated for such purposes. They spread out, each taking a space near a series of wooden posts that Kakashi had erected for target practice. Quietly, the masked Jounin began his rounds.

As he watched his students begin practicing their technique, Kakashi could not help but be impressed by the caliber of students this year held. There was exceptional talent in many of them, a fact that a cursory glance of their training quickly proved. Down field, Shikamaru used his family's Shadow Bind technique to wrap shadows around the wooden masts and then break them brutally in half. Beside him, his friend, Choji, ballooned into a gigantic ball several times larger than his normal size and completely flattened the post in an admiral showmanship of his clan's Meat Tank technique.

And then there were the girls. Not the outdone by the boy's performance, Kakashi spotted Sakura channeling chakra into her fists so she could tear through the posts like paper. It reminded him of the briefing Tsunade gave him about Naruto's injury the other day, and he unconsciously flinched as another post disintegrated into a shower of splinters. Being on the receiving end of one of Sakura's devastating punches must have really sucked.

He continued his walk. Hinata of the Hyuga clanwas also busy attacking the posts with her fist, but unlike Sakura, Kakashi noticed her fists never touched the wooden masts. Instead, her opened palm strike would stop a foot away from the pole, delivering a surgical strike of her chakra into it and effectively destroying it.

Next to Hinata was a girl with long, red hair that flowed down her back like a mane. In one hand was a compound bow, and in the other were a handful of arrows. Her name was Mayumi Asuka, another excellent markswomen like Tenten though she preferred only a bow and arrow over the vast array of weapons that her classmate preferred. Kakashi observed interestedly as Asuka strung four arrows into her bow, and then fired them off simultaneously. They sped through the air, but before hitting the post, they split off in different directions. Each arrow rocketed up into the sky, spiraling and twisting in a marvelous show of aerial acrobatics, and then came back to the ground to plunge into the wooden pole.

A class with such talent would have all made Jounin by the age of seventeen back in Kakashi's day. It had been a time of war when every ninja counted, and the luxury of spending seventeen years in training a ninja was unheard of. But then again, maybe some of these kids would grow up to be normal in a world devoid of war. They might actually retire from being a ninja unscarred, both physically and emotionally. The white-haired instructor sighed. He wondered what that would be like; it was a shame he would never know.

"Instructor," Sasuke called from his post a few meters away. Kakashi walked over. The young Uchiha looked excited, no, positively _ecstatic _about something, smiling broadly as he motioned for Kakashi to come closer. "I think I finally got it."

Kakashi's eyebrow tweaked upwards. It was unusual for something to surprise Kakashi. As ANBU he learned that the unexpected was usually what ended up getting people killed, and as a result, he made it a point to be prepared for anything. Even still, the legendary Jounin could not deny being a little shocked.

"I've only been teaching you the technique for a month, Sasuke. Are you sure?" He asked seriously.

Sasuke nodded eagerly. "Positive. Want me to show you?"

Kakashi thought on it for a moment, but then shook his head. "No. Surprise me."

The young Uchiha looked disappointed, but it faded quickly. Without another word to his instructor, he silently returned to his training.

There were those who said Kakashi was showing preferential treatment by giving private lessons to Uchiha Sasuke, and in a sense, the Jounin's detractors were partially right. Kakashi identified himself in the boy, seeing many of the traits in Sasuke that he once possessed as a youth, but that alone would not have earned a private lesson from Kakashi. Sasuke had not been the first to seek tutelage from him; there had been a steady parade before him, each asking to be taught a secret technique, but all had been refused. They were simply not skilled enough, and to attempt training prematurely under Kakashi's grueling regime was the equivalent of a long, painful death sentence. Of all of his prospective apprentices, only Sasuke had barely met Kakashi's standards.

But to master _that _technique in a month? Kakashi already believed Sasuke was a genius, but had he been underestimating the Uchiha even then?

Kakashi had almost finished his rounds when he saw Naruto. He was standing in front of his pole and his hands were swirling about each other. But other than that, Kakashi had no idea what the young ninja was doing. With a nimble leap, Kakashi landed atop the pole Naruto was training in front of.

"What are you doing, Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto's eyes were screwed tight in concentration, but they opened when he heard his instructor's voice. "Oh, hi, Instructor Kakashi," he greeted. The boy was sweating heavily."I've just about got it mastered."

Kakashi blinked. "What do you have mastered?"

"This!" Naruto said, grinning. Closing his eyes, Naruto held one palm open and began circling the other around it. He did this faster and faster, as if he was sculpting an invisible, clay jar, but the space in between his hands remained bare. Naruto seemed to realize this, because a cry of frustration escaped his lips, and his hands began moving even swifter than before.

Suddenly, a loud _whooshing _sound could be heard, like wind being sucked into a vacuum, and Kakashi's eye widened in complete and utter surprise. A small blue ball of swirling energy had formed in Naruto's hand, but the sphere obviously unstable. It glowed inconsistently, and despite Naruto's best efforts, was gradually dwindling. A few seconds later it had completely disappeared from sight, leaving Naruto's palm empty once again.

"Naruto…that's…" Kakashi whispered, still paralyzed from the sight of Naruto's technique. If he had been surprised by Sasuke's progress, there were no words to describe the shock he felt after seeing that blue ball of light. "Where did you learn that technique?"

"In some scrolls in the library-"Naruto began, but he quickly stopped in mid-sentence. Few times had he seen such a severe look from instructor, and never until now had it been focused at him. Gulping, he muttered, "I snuck into the archives and found it."

"You broke into the archives?" Kakashi demanded. The archives was a building where Konoha stored all of its most important documents and records, including several scrolls containing powerful, and often forbidden, techniques that the elders had deemed too dangerous to remain in the hands of the public. Whether Naruto knew it or not, breaking into the archives was a trespass worthy of immediate expulsion from the village because of the sensitive information it contained. "I could expel you Naruto! Why in the world did you do that?"

Naruto looked fearful for a moment in the face of Kakashi's anger, but his stubborn nature bolstered his resolve. "Because everyone knows you've been teaching Sasuke some secret, powerful, technique Instructor Kakashi."

"What I teach Sasuke is none of your business, Naruto, and it doesn't answer my question."

"Well, for once I wanted to do something better than him," Naruto muttered darkly. "I wanted to find a technique more powerful and special than whatever you're teaching him, and so…" His voice trailed off as he began to realize how childish he was sounding. Flushing red with embarrassment, he looked away from his teacher.

"So you decided the archives were the only place that housed such a technique." Kakashi logically concluded.

"Are you going to expel me?" asked Naruto.

Kakashi was forced to think quickly. There was so much to consider it seemed unfair to make such a flippant decision. On one hand it was entirely in Kakashi's right to discipline Naruto severely for such a breach in security. But on the other hand, breaking into the archives' showed a level of resolve that few ninjas ever demonstrated. It would have been no easy feat, slipping by the tight security the Hokage had placed around it, and if everything Naruto said was true, then perhaps Kakashi had underestimated another one of his students. Did Naruto want to beat Sasuke so badly that he was willing to be expelled from the village? Would he risk his entire career as a ninja just for one moment of victory?

It was hard. Kakashi really could not relate to Naruto's plight. As a student in the academy, Kakashi had been more like Sasuke, that is, the best at everything.

Finally, the white-haired Jounin smirked. "No, I'm not going to expel you."

Naruto sighed in relief.

Kakashi hopped down from his perch and stood beside Naruto. "The technique you're trying to use is called the Rasengan, a powerful chakra attack that became famous because it was used by the Fourth Hokage during the war. But as you may have realized, it's incredibly difficult to master, so difficult that almost no one else has bothered to learn it."

"But I have!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly.

"I admit your progress is more than I would expect from a normal senior, but it's far from perfect." Kakashi reasoned. He consulted a small notebook that he extracted from one of the pockets in his green flack vest. "And according to my grades, you need a perfect score on this assignment if you want to pass my class."

Naruto groaned in dismay.

"Are you sure you don't want to choose a more reasonable technique?" The Jounin offered kindly.

The young ninja shook his heard adamantly, and despite himself, Kakashi grinned at Naruto's stubbornness. There was nothing wrong with Naruto's control of chakra, and all he needed to do was be logical for a change and choose a less advanced technique to guarantee a passing score. But a passing score was not what Naruto was after. Kakashi got the feeling that the blonde-haired ninja would sooner fail the class than to be shown up again by Sasuke.

"I don't suppose you could help me with it, Instructor Kakashi?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi shook his head, feeling guilty at the crestfallen look his student gave him. He was not lying to Naruto though. The technique he was training Sasuke in was one Kakashi had mastered, but the attack Naruto was planning on learning was so advanced that even the high-ranked Jounin had never bothered to attempt it.

"I'll tell you what, Naruto," Kakashi said. "There are only two men I know that have ever mastered the Rasengan and that took them over two years. That's how difficult this technique is. You only have a month left. Are you positive that you want to learn-"

"Who were they?" Naruto interrupted eagerly.

A resigned sigh escaped Kakashi's lips. He had a bad feeling about this, like he was about to inadvertently trigger a chain of events that would inevitably end in disaster. "The first man was Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage, who invented the technique."

"He's dead," The blonde-haired ninja said flatly.

"And the second," continued Naruto's instructor, "is Jiraiya."

Disbelief hit the young ninja like a ten ton brick, and given a moment to ponder, Naruto would have preferred actually being physically hit than the reality of the terrible news that Kakashi had just imparted.

"What?" screamed Naruto. "You're joking right?'

But Kakashi was not laughing.

Naruto did not know what to say. It just did not seem possible. The Rasengan, as Kakashi called it, was a technique that only advanced, highly qualified ninjas were supposed to be able to use, and when it came to Jiraiya, Naruto had trouble associating any of those attributes to the wizened ninja. Some people called Naruto a pervert for his devious classroom antics, but compared to Jiraiya, Naruto was a mere amateur in the voyeuristic world they both lived in. The Perverted Hermit, the nickname the blonde-haired ninja had given Jiraiya several years, seemed all too fitting considering the lecherous old man's peeping tendencies.

The young ninja shuddered at the memory. He hated learning anything from the old ninja on the occasions Naruto had lessons with him. Half the time Jiraiya was completely hung over when he was supposed to be teaching and the other half he was busy trying to look up the same skirts as Naruto. It was alright for Naruto to revel in his immaturity while he was young, but Jiraiya had run out of excuses for his childish antics a long time ago. He was supposed to be a grown up for crying out loud.

Naruto cast a despaired glance at the open blue sky. Fate had a cruel sense of humor if that perverted drunk was actually qualified to teach anyone such a high level technique.

Kakashi peered at his pupil. "Still sure you want to learn it?"

--------------------  
Author's Notes:  
Chapter eight will take a little bit longer than the last three chapters. Iwas sick for a while and had plenty of time to write, but now I'm back in the swing of things and don't have as much time now. Thanks for the reviews folks, especially the feedback. I'm definitely keeping them in mind. There's nothing cooler than seeing a lot of reviews in my mailbox. It's definitely the highlight of my day if I haven't emphasized that enough in my earlier rants about reviews.

Chapter nine continues the new story arc with a class field to the –wait a second. _A class field trip? _Yes, it's that time of year again, a time where ninjas in training get to strut their stuff and show that all those years of education were not a complete waste of time. What happens when Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, and other members of the senior year are selected to go on an undercover mission to a neighboring village? And what happens when their enigmatic instructor, Kakashi is tasked to lead it? And what happens when things go absolutely wrong and evil renegade ninjas come to kill them? So many questions and the only way to answer them is to keep reading. Chapter Nine, **Class Field Trips, **coming soon!


	8. Chapter 8

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Once upon a time there was this guy who didn't own Naruto. He wrote fanfiction for fun and made no money. That guy is me. The end.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Eight: Class Field Trips**

_Three Weeks Later…_

Naruto yawned and tried to keep his weary eyes open. It was fifth period, the last hour of class before they were all gloriously free from the bondage of academia. It was a terrible shame that the last class he was forced to sit through was by far the most tedious of the day. Every second seemed to stretch into an hour, and worst, their instructor, Yuhi Kurenai, refused to allow her students to sleep. The moment Naruto's eyes closed, she would chuck a piece of chalk at him to wake him back up. Previous painful experience had taught him as much.

Stifling a yawn, the tired ninja glanced at the clock. Another ten minutes before class finished. Already he had his escape route plotted out. When the bell rang, he would leap over the front of desks, spring off of Sasuke's desk, and then lunge for the doorway. If all went well and no one accidentally hit him in midair, Naruto would be able to make it to Konoha's training grounds before anyone else arrived.

After all, his Rasengan still needed work…

Getting the perverted old man to help him had been surprisingly easy. While the lecher had the reputation as a fearless, powerful ninja, it seemed the one person that could still frighten him was the Fifth Hokage. It was rumored that as kids, Tsunade had once caught Jiraiya peeking on her at a public bathe and severely hospitalized him. After he recovered, the perverted ninja was left with an eternal fear of the Hokage's legendary strength and seldom dared to raise the ire of his former classmate. Armed with that knowledge, Naruto had tracked Jiraiya down to a single's bar in the seamier districts of Konoha and had asked the old man for help. Naturally, Jiraiya refused, and it was not until Naruto threatened to expose some of the old man's more devious activities to the Hokage did Jiraiya reluctantly agree.

And even then, Naruto suspected the only reason why the elderly voyeur was not able to weasel his way out of that dilemma was because he was totally inebriated at the time. To be safe, the blonde-haired ninja recorded the conversation so that the next morning, when Jiraiya flatly denied agreeing to anything, Naruto had something to fall back on.

Life never ceased to surprise Naruto when it came to understanding people. Jiraiya might have been the most depraved, perverted, disgusting old man in the entire country, but when it came to the matter of honoring ones word, he would not renege on his promise. As shocked and horrified as Jiraiya had been when faced with the recording, he begrudgingly conceded to help Naruto master the Rasengan.

That had been three weeks ago. Naruto unconsciously glanced at his right hand. It was heavily bandaged from the countless burns that had formed from the weeks of relentless training. Molding chakra too often too quickly in the amounts necessary to conjure the Rasengan was dangerous to the user as Naruto discovered on his own. Jiraiya later confessed the young ninja was lucky to have escaped with only severe burns. Better ninjas had lost limbs from overexerting themselves.

Cursing silently under his breath, the wounded ninja rubbed his injured hand, scowling at the pain that even the slightest touch produced. It would take at least another couple days to heal completely, and in the meanwhile, Jiraiya had strictly forbade Naruto continue his training in fear of further damaging the boy's hand. The injury posed a severe threat to Naruto's chances of passing Kakashi's exam, which was only a week away. While Jiraiya confessed that Naruto's progress was astounding for a ninja only in their senior year, there was still had quite a ways to go before the perverted hermit would declare Naruto a master of the technique, and Instructor Kakashi had already stated that he would accept nothing short of perfect for a passing grade.

Naruto groaned miserably. His injury could not have come at a worst time too. Over the last few days, the young Genin had finally gotten the hang of conjuring the Rasengan. He could effortlessly create a swirling ball of blue chakra, but his limited control over the technique meant it dissipated before he could actually use it. Still, the visible progress was encouraging. It would never pass Kakashi's stringent grading, but Naruto was confident that if he even had another week, he was certain he would master the Rasengan.

But time was not on Naruto's side. It seldom was. When he wanted class to speed by, it would drag by agonizingly slowly, but if he needed more time, it had a tendency to accelerate to a point where the confused ninja would wonder where it went. The bandages would not come off for another two days, and Naruto needed the full week if he wanted to pass Kakashi's class and take one step closer to graduating with the rest of the year. It was an incredible dilemma. Either he needed to somehow accelerate the rate of his hand's recovery, or he would have to magically squeeze two extra days into the week. In another words, Naruto needed a miracle and fast.

"And so, thirty years later the barbarian hoard from the Fire Country was successfully defeated by the fledgling ninja village of…"

Instructor Kurenai's voice resonated in Naruto's head, a noise echoing pointlessly in a cavernous space that just so happened to be the vacant spot where Naruto's brain should have been. He was exhausted from the strenuous training and it wasn't just his hand that hurt. His entire body ached from the grueling abuse Naruto had forced it to silently endure, but now it was paying him back in spades. He couldn't even lift his pencil to take notes without every muscle in his arms screaming in protest, and so the weary ninja resigned himself to staring vacantly at the chalk board, trying to make any sense of his instructor's history lesson.

It was a futile gesture truth be told. While memorizing dates and trivial facts came naturally to smart people like Shikamaru or Sakura, for Naruto, recalling even the most significant figures in history was an arduous effort that ended unsuccessfully most of the time. It was not that Naruto was stupid; he just did not care enough to learn. The fact that he averaged mediocre in classes like history or arithmetic did not bother the young ninja a great deal, however. Only those who wished to become historians, doctors or diplomats needed to maintain high scores in those sorts of courses. But for those who sought the life of a Konoha field operative like Naruto, only a diploma was required to certify the graduate as a qualified ninja.

But even that diploma seemed unattainable at the moment with this thrice damned injury.

"Hey," Kyo whispered from the seat beside Naruto. "Where are Kiba and Asuka today?"

A quick look around the classroom verified that Kyo was indeed correct. The seat that the loud mouthed hound master usually occupied was vacant and the red haired archer was also nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe they're sick," Naruto guessed.

Kyo shook his head. "I haven't seen either of them for the last couple of days; not around the village either. It can't be a coincidence that they're both absent on the same day."

"Think there's something going on between them?" asked the blonde-haired ninja eagerly. "You know, taking a little shared vacation with each other?"

The black-clad ninja shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Something seems kind of strange though with the instructors. Like something is going on."

Naruto nodded in agreement, but couldn't think of anything else to say on the matter. The rest of the class ended uneventfully, but when the bell rang, Instructor Kurenai called,

"Naruto, please come to my desk."

The blonde haired ninja stopped dead in his tracks, his legs still crouched in preparation for a jump he would never make. Fear struck at Naruto's heart, freezing the blood that pumped through his veins. Being called to an instructor's desk in Naruto's case was seldom a good thing. It either meant he was being rebuked for a poor mark or was being punished with extra lunch or latrine duty, and since the senior year had not been tested recently in Kurenai's class, Naruto logically concluded that he was in trouble for some transgression or another. The strangest thing was, the young ninja could not think of anything he had done recently that was worthy of punishment. He'd been so busy training for the last three weeks he really hadn't had the time.

Naruto briefly entertained the idea of leaping through the window and escaping, but knowing Kurenai, she would probably have him in some weird illusion technique before he made it halfway there. Groaning in resignation, he climbed down from his chair and with all the mannerism of a man marching to the gallows, he plodded over to Kurenai's desk.

"What did I do this time, Instructor?" Naruto asked.

Yuhi Kurenai was a young and exceptionally attractive Jounin that had become an instructor at the academy only the year prior. She had curly black hair and wore the traditional vest and jumpsuit of a Konoha ninja. As Naruto stood before her desk, she looked at her pupil, her eerie crimson eyes eyeing him in an unnerving way that sent a shiver down the trouble making ninja's spine.

"Who said you were in trouble?" Kurenai asked.

"Because I swear that one time –wait a minute. I'm not in trouble?"

"No."

Naruto sighed in relief.

"The Hokage asked you to meet her in her office in an hour from now," Naruto's instructor continued. "And she wanted you to deliver the same message to Hyuga Hinata. You know her, correct?"

The younger ninja nodded. There were a billion questions he wanted to ask of Kurenai, but he knew his instructor would refuse to answer them before Tsunade determined it to be alright. It was very rare for a ninja to be invited to the Hokage and it struck Naruto as very strange that two lowly Genin would be extended the honor. The old lady probably wanted something from them, but what? The feisty Hokage didn't really seem the type to invite kids around for idle conversation.

"All the Hokage said was it's about your class field trip," Kurenai added.

Class field trip? The senior year hadn't even begun planning their end of the year trip, and even if they had, Naruto would definitely not be one of the students planning it. The unofficial leaders of the year had already decided that a long time ago back when they were in second grade. An excuse about an imaginary class trip was a clumsy lie, but the young Genin couldn't decide whether it was the invention of Kurenai or the Hokage.

As he walked out of the classroom and into the open hallways of Konoha High, Naruto came to a conclusion about one thing. Kyo was definitely right.

Something was up.

--------------------------

Hyuga Hinata stared listlessly at the white painted walls of the small cubicle that served as the receptionist office in Konoha's hospital wing. The perpetual _tick _of the small clock on her desk was the only sound in the room, resounding loudly in the emptiness of the hospital's long corridors. She did not even have to look at the clock to know the time; she had been faithfully counting away the seconds ever since Instructor Shizune had ended their Healing Technique class early and left Hinata in charge. Normally this would have been a very prestigious duty for a ninja who had yet to graduate from an advanced course in Healing, but it quickly became apparent why Shizune had little hesitation in leaving an under-qualified ninja in charge of the hospital.

It had been exactly an hour, fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds since Hinata had taken up her post at the receptionist's desk and not a single soul had shown up yet. Sitting there, waiting for patients that would never come, was a monotonous chore at best and a grueling endurance of her sanity at worst. Why the hell didn't people get injured more frequently around this damn place? If only someone came in missing an arm or something then Hinata would have an excuse to abandon her post to go summon Shizune. But the odds of that happening were so slim it made the Hyuga clan ninja why she bothered entertaining the morbid wish. If anyone was critically injured, a runner would have arrived already bearing word and Shizune would be standing by with a team of medics.

She drummed her fingers impatiently on the table. This was so annoying. Everything about this was so irritating it infuriated her! The pointless assignment combined with the sterile smelling atmosphere of the hospital wing served to enflame the blistering rage that smoldered beneath the young girl's tranquil exterior. An unholy anger filled the ninja-in-training, blinding her vision with an impregnable veil of flames that seared her mind and soul with the embers of abhorrence and inferno of madness.

But then it faltered…

"Why am I so angry?" asked Hinata to the unresponsive silence. It was most unlike her to become so irritable about something as trivial as an unfavorable assignment. And then there was this morning when her younger sister, Hanabi, had asked to borrow a set of kunai to practice. Without thinking, Hinata had snapped angrily, reducing the little girl to tears. Hinata had felt horrible about the incident afterwards. Why had she reacted so violently?

Her gaze traveled down the hallway and came to a rest on the green door at the end of the corridor. It was the same room where Naruto had been when he was injured three weeks ago. Hinata had been the receptionist then too, keeping a constant vigil over her friend's room, but lacking the courage to go inside and visit. Ever since their confrontation in the woods during capture the flag, whatever plans she had harbored to admitting her affection for the trouble making ninja had evaporated. There was no telling what Naruto might think of her after passing out like that. He probably thought she was a fool and would laugh at her if she confessed her love.

But hadn't she gone inside? Yes, she had. Later that day, Hinata had spotted Sakura enter Naruto's room. Emboldened by the arrival of her pink-haired friend, the Hyuga clan ninja crept to the doorway and, with sweating palms, turned the doorknob. The door opened and Hinata had nearly died at what she saw.

_She _kissed him! She _kissed _him! She kissed _him!_

That dirty, slut, tramp, streetwalking, low-life, two-timing, back-stabbing, whore kissed him!

The conflagration roared to life again, fueled by the wretched memory, and the pen Hinata had been holding in her hand suddenly snapped into two. Ink sprayed all over the brand new white shit she was wearing, but she did not care. Her fist clenched tighter around the fragmented pen, unaware of the pain in her hand as the plastic shards gouged into her flesh. A river of crimson seeped in between in her fingers, dripping steadily on the record book Hinata was supposed to be taking notes in.

Sakura was supposed to be her friend! Her friend! She knew that Hinata had a crush on Naruto and was therefore off limits according to the unwritten laws of sisterhood that all the female ninjas in Konoha lived by, but that apparently had not been enough to halt her brazen overtures on the man Hinata loved. And if Sakura's betrayal was not enough, the pink-haired girl had the audacity to lie to her in the locker room, feigning animosity towards Naruto only hours before throwing herself at him. What kind of friend would lie to another friends' face and then stab them back in the back?

Apparently Haruno Sakura was that kind of friend…

Hinata scowled angrily. She was not angry at Naruto for not fighting off Sakura's amorous advances. After all, because of Hinata's hesitance, he still had little if no idea of her true feelings for him. Admittedly, his obliviousness to this irritated her as she thought she had made it all too obvious on several occasions. The girls could see it, but Naruto was completely blind to her strong affection for him. But she supposed she would have to forgive him. He was male after all and, as a result, inherently obtuse.

"Hello?" A voice from outside the hospital wing called out. "Instructor Shizune?"

Hinata's heard skipped a beat and her eyes went wide in alarm. She knew that voice! Suddenly, she became very aware of the ink staining her shirt and the bloody pen that was clenched in her hand. Cursing her stupidity, she tossed the pen away and hastily tried to clean up before the door opened. Shunting aside the ache in her bleeding hand, Hinata frantically searched for some towels or a rag to mop up the mess. Being a hospital, there should have been plenty of those on hand. So naturally there were none in sight.

The hospital door opened and Naruto stepped inside. He spotted Hinata. There was ink all over the blue-haired girl's face and shirt, and he could not help but notice the blood that covered the desk. Hurrying over to her, he removed a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to his friend. "You alright there, Hinata?"

"Uh…" Hinata stammered, blushing brightly. Embarrassment could not begin to describe the colossal shame that the young Hyuga clan ninja felt. She wanted to die right there and be spared the agony of enduring this humiliation. Of all the people in the village, why did it have to be Naruto who chose to walk into the hospital wing?

_This is it, _Hinata thought miserably. _I'm never going to win, Naruto like this. If he didn't think I was an idiot before, he certainly does now. _

"I don't think you're an idiot," Naruto said kindly. He smiled and leaned over the desk and gingerly took her hand in his. "A little clumsy maybe, but definitely not an idiot."

Hinata gasped, partially out of surprise and partially from the unexpected touch of her fellow ninja's hand. "What? I never said anything about me being an-"

Naruto winked roguishly causing Hinata's protests to die away. Gently, he opened her palm and began carefully picking out the small pieces of plastic that had cut into Hinata's flesh. He worked in silence, pausing to toss away the fragments as he unearthed them.

A particularly large chunk came out and a fresh trickle of blood began to spring forth from the wound. Hinata winced painfully.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized quickly. "Maybe I should stop…"

"No!" Hinata interrupted quickly. "I mean, no. You're doing just fine." She of course could not tell Konoha's resident troublemaker the truth. The mere touch of his hand made her forget all about the pain, washing away the trivial aches in a wave of euphoric bliss. The last thing she wanted was for him to let go.

Naruto grinned and resumed his work.

"Why did you say I wasn't an idiot?" Hinata wondered after a moment. "I never said anything about that."

The blonde-haired ninja shrugged. "I guess I would have been thinking the same thing if our situations were reversed," he explained casually. "Am I right?"

Hinata smiled and managed a nervous chuckle. "You have such a strange way of surprising people."

"That's me." Naruto admitted proudly. "Konoha's number one ninja at surprising people." He removed the last shard from Hinata's hand and then unscrewed the cap from the canteen he carried with him. "This will sting a little."

The Hyuga clan ninja nodded and Naruto poured a small trickle of water over her bloody wound. Naruto was wrong. It did not sting a little. It hurt a lot. But the pain was brief and was nothing Hinata had not felt before. Gradually, it faded away, and by then Naruto had finished wrapping her hand up with his handkerchief.

"It isn't as good as a field bandage." He admitted. "I can go get one-"

"It's fine," Hinata said swiftly, gently stroking the soft fabric. "This is fine. Thank you."

"No problem," Naruto replied. His eyes perked up as if he had just remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. The Hokage wanted me to come get you. We're supposed to meet that cranky old lady for something or another."

Hinata stared at her classmate, dumbfounded. She could only speculate how Naruto could speak so carelessly about something as important as a meeting with the Hokage. Only the most highly ranked ninjas and villagers were ever granted a private audience with Tsunade, and yet Naruto acted as if this was a casual lunch invitation with an old friend. She thought of rebuking her friend, but when she turned to address him, he was already heading towards the doorway.

"Naruto," Hinata called. Naruto stopped, his hands on the doorknob, and looked at Hinata. Drawing forth her last reserves of courage, she took a deep breath and said, "Do you mind if I walk with you?"

Silence filled the hospital wing as Naruto regarded her. For a moment, Hinata almost thought he would say no and that she was a silly little girl and that he had no time for her. Nightmares had been filled with such terrible visages in sleepless nights before, and with dread the young girl anticipated their impending fulfillment. Her breath caught in her chest and for what seemed to last an eternity, Hinata dared not breath lest even the slightest disturbance of the fragile silence would adversely affect Naruto's decision.

But a smile formed across the boy's face. His hand extended out, and slowly, Hinata took it.

"Sure," Naruto said. "C'mon. Let's go."

-----------------

Author's Notes:  
ZoMg! First a Sakura/Naruto moment and then another Hinata/Naruto moment? Where could all these conflicting romantic encounters be hinting at for the future of our young protagonists? No idea. I usually don't plan that far ahead. Took a while to get this one the way I wanted. I went through several drafts which ended up getting scrapped or recycled for later on before I was semi-satisfied. It's still pretty rough, but I wanted to get this up. Sorry it took longer than usual to finally get uploaded but I hope you're happy with the results. Oh, and keep them reviews coming in. Nothing says "write faster" than a nice word of encouragement. Or even criticism. That's totally awesome too. But I'm sure you've all heard this before. In fact I know you have because I say the same thing every chapter.

The young ninjas get their assignment working with the mysterious Hatake Kakashi and decide to spend their last night in the village having fun. Yes, just fun. But you know how ninja teenagers like having fun –just like normal teenagers meaning all the romance, violence and drunken revelry. Or maybe they'll just sit around and play cards. But I doubt it. All this and more in Chapter Nine **Live This Day Like the Last**.


	9. Chapter 9

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I wish I owned Naruto. Alas...

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Nine: Live This Day Like the Last. **

There was a slight chill in the afternoon wind as Naruto and Hinata scaled the winding, circular staircase that lead up to the Hokage's office, and both of the ninjas wished they had dressed more appropriately for the cool climate. Springtime had faded faster than either had anticipated and already the first signs of fall were visible. The leaves on the trees had lost their former lush splendor, witling into pale shadows of their former beauty, and the sun set earlier these days. Gazing out towards the stone cliff that bore the visage of the Hokages, Naruto espied the sun escaping behind the vast monument. Before long, the last traces of light would disappear all together, bathing the hidden village of Konoha in a voluminous blanket of darkness.

Beside him, Hinata shivered as a cool gust of wind blew past. Noticing this, Naruto pulled off his jacket, and, before Hinata could protest, he draped it over both their shoulders to shield themselves from the breeze. The young girl blushed shyly, privately savoring the warmth provided not by the makeshift cape, but by the closeness to her friend. She resisted the urge to rest her head on his chest, to snuggle up to him like the furry animal he sometimes resembled. Glancing surreptitiously up at Naruto, Hinata decided that with his spiky blonde hair and the black whiskers that were drawn on his cheeks, he looked not unlike a fox or cat.

Passing a pair of sentries outside of the Hokage's office, they hastily entered into the Tsunade's antechamber to escape the autumn chill. There was a roaring fire burning brightly in the stone fireplace, and Naruto was about to invite Hinata to partake in its warmth when Instructor Shizune suddenly appeared. She looked cross, though Naruto knew that was nothing really new. When on duty, Konoha High's medical instructor acted the part of a Jounin, stern, severe and humorless, but Naruto knew that beneath the pretense of professionalism there was a kind spirited personality.

"Naruto! Hinata! You're late!" snapped Shizune irritably. "The Hokage expected you two minutes ago!"

There definitely was a nice individual in there. It was just buried really deep and no one ever saw it. That's all.

"I'm sorry, Instructor Shizune. It was all my-"Hinata began to apologize, but the short tempered instructor waved off the young ninja off.

"Get inside now!"

Neither of the two ninjas waited for another invitation and they quickly pushed open the large double doors leading into the Hokage's office. It was a large, circular room and every inch of it was occupied. Mountainous stacks of papers littered the floor, leaning precariously as if they might topple at any moment, and the walls were adorned with so many charts and posters that none of the original wood paneling was visible. A giant desk added to the mess, resting in the middle of the office, and it too was covered with so much junk that it was hard to see the person sitting behind it.

But Tsunade was not alone in her office. Sitting in a semi-circle ring around her desk was several of Hinata's and Naruto's classmates. The blonde-haired ninja was glad to see that Sakura and Tenten was there, though he was less than thrilled to spot Sasuke and Neji amongst them as well. They turned around at the sound of their entrance. Muttered greetings were exchanged and the two late arrivals took a seat next to their comrades.

Tsunade leaned across her desk. "I'm sorry I have had to call you on such short notice, but a situation has surfaced that needs Konoha's immediate attention. I have decided it's time for the senior class of Konoha High to participate in a B-Rank mission."

Naruto shot a startled look at the rest of his friends, and he was glad to see he was not alone in his shock. All of the Genin looked startled by Tsunade's words. Even the normally passive Neji looked a little unsettled by the announcement. As Genin, most of the senior class had undertaken dozens of D-Rank missions and maybe even a few C-Rank missions for the overachieving crowd, but B-Rank missions were reserved only for Chunin. None of them were expected to be chosen for B-Rank missions until well after they had graduated from the academy.

As if to verbalize their worries, Sakura protested "But, Hokage, we're just seniors. We're not prepared to go on a B-Rank mission."

"Really?" Tsunade asked, sounding surprised. "I've heard different from your instructors, particularly Instructor Kakashi. They seem to think the senior year is prepared to tackle the challenge of a B-Rank mission. Or am I mistaken?"

"No, Hokage," Sasuke said before Sakura could respond. "You weren't mistaken. We're prepared."

Sakura looked at her friend, the anxiety plain on her face. "I don't feel-"

"All of us are ready," Sasuke reiterated. "Sakura doesn't know what she's talking about."

"But Sasuke…" The pink-haired ninja looked at Sasuke, like a lost puppy looking to their master for guidance, but Sasuke did not so much as acknowledge her presence. Meekly, she subsided into silence, not daring to contradict her crush's statement.

Seeing this, Naruto shot Sasuke a murderous glare and stood up, pointing an angry finger at the young Uchiha. "Shut up, Sasuke!" He bellowed. "You don't speak for Sakura or any of the rest of us!"

Sasuke scowled in Naruto's direction. "Oh, it's the moron again. I was hoping you might be in the hospital with another broken neck. Wishful thinking."

"Sasuke!" Naruto growled.

Tsunade smashed her fist on her desk with an explosive _crash _that resounded around the room. "That's enough!" She yelled. "I was told you were a group of responsible ninjas, but this display of immaturity clearly displays otherwise."

Sasuke smirked triumphantly, little doubt in his mind who exactly the _immature _element in their group was.

"I'm not just talking about Naruto, Sasuke," Tsunade rebuked harshly. Sasuke snorted and crossed his arms disdainfully. "Naruto is correct also. Sasuke, you do not speak for your teammates in this matter. Any member that does not wish to partake in this mission has the right to step down."

Silence filled the room. Naruto glanced down the row at Sakura. He could almost feel the conflict within his friend, and wished he could go over there and comfort her through this dilemma. This was her call to make. On one hand Sakura was the timid young girl, only a teenager who feared death and danger like anyone else, but on the other she had her loyalties to consider also. To stand down know would be to betray her classmates, a trespass that would not soon be forgiven.

Finally, Sakura who spoke up.

"I'm prepared, Hokage." She said quietly.

Tsunade smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. Each of the ninjas assembled here have been handpicked because of your individual strengths and potential skills that might benefit the outcome of this mission. I understand you're all Genin with limited field experience, so I'm assigning one of our most reliable Jounin to supervise and coordinate the mission."

"Who is it?" Naruto asked.

As if perfectly on cue, the double doors of Tsunade's office sprang open, and Hatake Kakashi walked in, chuckling stupidly at some insipid joke he was reading from the pink novella he carried. He glanced up from the book and spotted the Hokage and his students staring at their instructor, mouths ajar in wordless horror. He hastily stowed away the book in his vest. Clearing his throat loudly, Kakashi closed the doors behind him and turned to face the assembly of ninjas.

"A monster attacked a maiden and I needed to rescue her," Kakashi offered. When no one seemed to readily except this excuse, he added hopefully, "A beautiful maiden?"

Everyone groaned.

"He's leading us?" demanded Naruto incredulously. "He's going to get us all killed!"

Kakashi chuckled and ruffled his loudmouthed critic's unruly blonde hair. "No, just you, Naruto," he said cheerfully. "Sorry about being late, Hokage. Please continue with the briefing."

The Fifth Hokage pressed on. "This B-Rank mission entails that a group of ninjas covertly infiltrate the city of Kakami that rests on the border of Leaf country. You will pose as civilians and gather as much intelligence as you can on a suspected transaction that will occur approximately a week from now."

"What transaction?" queried Neji. "And who are the parties involved?"

"Our reconnaissance tells us that a large shipment of illicit contraband will be traded between two factions of the crime syndicate led by a man named Gato." Tsunade elaborated. "You will shadow them, learn as much as possible, and then apprehend everyone involved when the deal goes down."

The Hokage reached into a pile of papers and extracted several brown folders. She passed one to each of the Genin. "All operational information is stored in here. Commit it to memory and then destroy it."

Tenten frowned as she leafed through her folder. "Hokage, there are seven of us. I'm guessing this won't be a standard, four-man per team mission?"

"No, Tenten, thank you for bringing that to my attention," the Hokage said. "Because you will be posing as civilians, it is necessary for you to take on assumed identities. In a week's time, the Kakami holds an annual gathering of newly weds at a sacred site just north of the city. Assuming the guise of newly married couples is the ideal cover, and because of that, a guy and a girl will be paired as a team throughout the city."

Tsunade narrowed her eyebrows. "I'm assuming you can all handle this maturely?"

Tenten and Sakura broke into fits of uncontrollable giggles, Hinata blushed, Naruto smiled broadly, and Neji and Sasuke maintained their normal indifferent stoicism.

"I didn't think so," the Fifth muttered. "Anyway, Instructor Kakashi has had some past experiences with the targets involved, so he will not be on the field until the time comes to raid the meeting in case he is identified. You will report all findings back to him."

Sakura raised her hand. "Hokage, if this is simply a reconnaissance and raid mission, why is it B-ranked?'

"Good question." Tsunade said approvingly. "We know Gato is extremely wealthy and we're going to assume he's not going to cut corners on a deal this important. We're expecting him to hire at least a hundred mercenaries for security, but don't be surprised if you run into a couple Chunin as well."

"Let me reiterate," she continued. "This is a stealth operation. Do not confront the enemy or do anything rash that might compromise your cover. When the time comes, you Genin will deal with the mercenaries while Kakashi handles any ninjas that Gato might have hired. Understood?"

"Understood," the Genin replied in unison.

"Excuse me, Hokage." Hinata whispered. "You said intelligence. Who exactly is our intelligence?"

"It's Asuka and Kiba isn't it." Sasuke interjected before the Hokage could reply, stating his theory more than hypothesizing it. "They've been absent for the last several days."

Tsunade nodded, obviously impressed. "Very good, Sasuke. Yes. Inuzuka Kiba and Mayumi Asuka were deployed last week and have been reporting back periodically. You'll rendezvous with them later. Instructor Kakashi, do you have anything you wish to add?"

Kakashi nodded and walked over to the Hokage's desk. "Remember. For now we are not ninjas. Do nothing that indicates otherwise. While in the field, none of us know each other. Never, ever forget that. If your cover is blown, retreat to the indicated extraction points. If one of us is captured, do nothing to assist them. We only have one shot at this. Do not screw it up."

He smiled. "But I doubt anything like that will happen."

The worried stares that some of the Genin gave him indicated otherwise.

Tsunade stood up from her seat and her students followed suit. "You will be departing from the village at 0700 hours tomorrow morning. I suggest you spend the time taking it easy and gathering your strength, but I know you're not going to listen to me. In that case, enjoy your night."

There was an old saying amongst ninjas that went "Live this day like the last," a somewhat depressing reminder that once a ninja left the sanctuary of the village, anything could happen. The battle field was so unpredictable. It was encouraged for a ninja to take the time to enjoy life before a mission. Spend time with their family, close up loose ends and the such. Bring some closure to their life in case things went horribly wrong during their assignment.

"Go have some fun," Tsunade said. "That's an order."

-----------------------------------

Several hours had passed since their briefing with the Hokage and night had fallen, covering the hidden ninja village in a veil of star speckled blackness. Hatake Kakashi had always preferred the darkness over daytime ever since he was recruited into the ranks of ANBU, and the opinion remained even four years after his resignation from the elite, black-ops organization. Even though he no longer relied on the night to conceal his movements and hide him from his enemies, Kakashi found that he enjoyed the quiet and tranquility that the nocturnal setting inspired. With most of the villagers asleep in their beds, the almost palatable silence was a welcomed change of pace from the usual hectic chaos that dominated the village during the daylight hours. The mysterious Jounin found he could actually think uninterrupted during these times.

He glanced up at the dark sky with his one eye and then returned his gaze to the obsidian tablet that rested in the middle of an open field. It was a large monument erected in honor of all the ninjas that had sacrificed their lives for Konoha, and all the names of the fallen were etched into the face of the stone block. He did not need to read through the list. He had memorized the names on the memorial a long time ago. But he did so anyway, visualizing the faces of the ninjas he had known as he recited their names in his head.

_Sugihara Toji, Yamagiwa Musashi, Hanaoka Kimiko, Chisato Yasuko… _

All were Chunin or Jounin who had died in black operations for ANBU. Aside from Kakashi who had been their captain during those missions, only the Hokage and a few select members knew the specifics behind their deaths.

_Yondaime, Rin…_

Yondaime had been Kakashi's mentor and team leader during the white-haired Jounin's formative years. Rin had been a medical ninja assigned to Kakashi's team. Both had given their lives to save the village from the Kyubi. Rin had died while going on a suicide mission to rescue a squad that had been ambushed by the demonic fox, and Yondaime had finally sacrificed himself to seal away the Kyubi inside Naruto. Both had been more than comrades to Kakashi. They had been friends.

_Uchiha Obito…_

Kakashi touched the name, slowly tracing the outline with his finger. No one could see the sorrow welling inside the Jounin, just as none could see the tear forming in his eye.

"Sorry, Obito," he whispered. "You deserved better."

A sudden noise from behind Kakashi alerted the instructor of the presence of a newcomer, but he did not turn around. With his superb hearing he could identify a person based solely on their unique gait, and the person who had interrupted his private mourning was no different.

"Hello, Yugao." Kakashi said, his gaze never leaving the memorial.

A lithe, young woman with long purple hair came to stand beside Kakashi. She wore the traditional black jumpsuit and accompanying white body armor, typical ANBU uniform, but her face did not hide behind the painted animal mask associated with the elite military force. She smiled at Kakashi, a pretty sort of smile that made her striking attractive features all the more apparent.

"Good evening, captain." She replied, saluting Kakashi.

Uzuki Yugao had been a junior ANBU operative at the peak of Kakashi's career in Konoha's black operations unit. When Kakashi left the unit, his reputation followed him, and it was not unusual for his former comrades to still respectfully salute him as their captain whenever they ran into each other.

Kakashi sighed. "I'm retired from ANBU. I'm no longer your captain." He gave her a sideways glance. "In fact, I hear you've recently been promoted to captain yourself."

Yugao smiled sweetly. "I'll never be as good of a captain as you, sir."

"Well, it's hard to compete with legends I suppose," Kakashi admitted. Looking at Yugao's innocent smile, he involuntarily shuddered. It was a façade, a pretense to disguise her true nature. Deep inside, beneath the friendly exterior, lurked a natural born killer –the person Kakashi had once been four years ago. Just as Yugao had heard the stories of him, he too had heard reports of Yugao's talent on the battlefield. Already she was accredited for over fifty enemy kills.

"What are you doing out here at this hour anyway?" He asked.

That beautiful, perfect smile never wavered as Yugao said, "I came to visit Hayate. It's been too long since I paid my respects."

Kakashi searched the memorial until he found the name of Gekko Hayate. He had been a Jounin and Yugao's fiancée several years ago, but had died during the war before they could be wed. The white haired Jounin stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"I'll leave you alone then," Kakashi said. He turned and began to walk away when Yugao placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked inquiringly at the pretty ANBU operative.

"I hear you're going on a mission tomorrow. Sure you haven't lost your edge, sir?" She asked. She was teasing him, but there was something else hidden within the playful jibe. Worry perhaps? Fear?

"Don't worry. I'll make do." the enigmatic Jounin said.

Yugao nodded. It was apparent his answer did not satisfy her, but she wasn't about ready to appear insubordinate to a man who had once been her captain. While it was true that Kakashi had retired years ago, the reputation he had established was eternal. She would just have to trust him. "Good luck, captain. And if you get into trouble my squad is always at your disposal."

The academy instructor grinned. He knew Yugao's promise was an empty one. By tomorrow morning the Hokage would have Yugao's squad running missions in a different country and in no position to give Kakashi assistance should he need it. Still, the thoughtful offer was a nice gesture, one that Kakashi deeply appreciated. It was always good to know people cared.

---------------

"A cocktail for the pretty young lady in pink," the waiter said with a polite smile. Sakura thanked the young man and pushed him a few coins. She picked up her drink, a sparkling blue mix, and took a sip. It was bittersweet and tasted terrific. But then again, this was one of the fanciest night clubs in all of Konoha. For the exorbitant price she just paid for her drink it had better be good.

The Connection was a popular hang out spot for young people, both ninjas and villagers, in Konoha. It was a large dome like structure that was lavishly furnished with expensive fur sofas. On the stage near the entrance, a live band was busy playing the latest hits from Rock Country, filling the nightclub with the explosive ambiance created by the group's twin electric guitars and piano accompanist. A gorgeous blonde thing, who Sakura immediately hated, was singing, turning every ear in the club at the sound of her melodious voice.

Sakura took another sip of her expensive drink.

It was strange. Usually it took considerable haggling and a large bribe in order for the bartender to overlook the fact that the academy students who frequented the club were underage, but tonight, the group had been served their drinks without question. It was almost as if they had been expecting them. Privately, she considered that perhaps the Hokage had arranged this as her personal way of sending off the next generation of ninjas on their first B-ranked mission. It was impossible to tell with that old lady sometimes.

Sitting on the couch was Naruto and Hinata. They were chatting about something, or more specifically, Naruto was doing all the talking while the smitten Hinata nodded her head but did little to add to the conversation. In front of the band, several young couples were engaged in a fast, swaying series of gyrations and Sakura spotted Tenten attempting to coerce Neji to dance with her. Suffice to say, she was failing miserably.

"Just once, please, Neji?" Tenten begged.

"No, this is stupid." Replied Neji stubbornly. "Look at those two over there." He pointed to a couple who had apparently become a little too frisky in their dancing and now occupied themselves snogging the living daylights out of each other on the dance floor. "Have they no decency?"

"It's fun!" whined Tenten.

"No," refused the Hyuga clan ninja.

Sakura chuckled, but her laughter died quickly when she recalled her success, or lack thereof, with the man she was chasing after. Uchiha Sasuke sat on the barstool next to her, slamming down a shot glass full of potent liquor. He exhaled deeply after he drained the glass' content and then pushed it into a progressively growing pile of emptied glasses.

"You should slow down, Sasuke." Sakura cautioned.

Sasuke shrugged and ordered another round of shots.

Sakura looked at her friend with concern. Something was bothering Sasuke. They had only been at the club for about twenty minutes and the young Uchiha was already well on his way to becoming drunk. He normally never drank this hard, and Sakura doubted it had anything to do with the mission the next morning. He had been too confident in the Hokage's office for it to have been merely a show of false courage. So what could be bothering him?

She sighed softly, deciding that dressing up for tonight had been a complete waste of time. Sakura was wearing a new pink dress and Ino had helped her apply her makeup so perfectly that she guaranteed her that any guy would fall for her. So naturally Sasuke had not noticed how nice Sakura looked. Others had noticed however. A few guys had even asked Sakura to dance, but she had refused so that she could remain by Sasuke's side.

"I think you should listen to the girl, punk," an unpleasant voice from behind the two ninjas said. Standing a few meters away were three men, big and muscular. They wore expensive clothing, but since they did not bear the forehead protector of a ninja, Sakura guessed they were probably thugs working for a wealthy gang.

"Yeah," said one of the three. "You should leave. Before. Uh. Yeah. Leave."

Sakura groaned. The burly villagers were obviously drunk as well. Normally villagers would know better than to mess with anyone bearing the forehead protector of a Konoha ninja, but for these men, in their inebriated state, rational thinking probably was the last thing on their mind. They were intoxicated and looking for a fight. It was unfortunate that they had found Sasuke.

"Hey pretty boy, I'm talking to you," the thug slurred.

Sasuke smirked arrogantly, that same confident smirk that he always wore, and turned away from them. It was a pompous gesture, one that belayed the sort of disgust that the young Uchiha no doubt felt towards the villagers, and even drunk it was impossible for the thugs to miss the implied insult.

"Sasuke, be careful," Sakura warned. "We can't use any ninja techniques while-"

"Don't worry, Sakura." Sasuke muttered. "I know what I'm doing."

"Hey!" roared another one of the thugs. He poked Sasuke hard in the back of the head.

Slowly, Sasuke turned and glared at the men. There was murder in his eyes, and anyone in their right mind would have seen that and taken it as a sign to run. Fast. "Do that again and I'll break your face." snarled Sasuke, venom dripping from every word.

"Oh that does it!"

One of the drunken thugs grabbed Sasuke by the collar of his shirt, but the young Uchiha was ready. With lightening fast reflexes, Sasuke grabbed the thug's wrist and twisted it violently. A loud _crack_ exploded as bone and muscle tore and the man screamed, a shrill sound that echoed in the nightclub and drew the attention of the rest of its patrons. The music faltered. The drunk immediately let go and backed away, sobbing and cradling his mutilated hand.

"Bastard!" one of the injured man's friends swore. He grabbed a half-full liquor bottle from the bar and lunged at Sasuke. The young Uchiha easily dodged the clumsy blow and struck his attacker's wrist. The bottle popped free from the man's grasp, and Sasuke snagged it from the air before smashing it into the side of his assailant's head. The liquor bottle exploded in a shower of broken glass and booze, and the drunk, his face a bloody mess, dropped to the ground.

Sasuke whirled to face the last of the drunks. "Who's next?" he screamed. Having seen his two friends defeated, the last of the three men sobered up remarkably quickly. He turned around and ran, pushing his way through the crowd of spectators who had come to watch the brawl.

"Pussy," the young Uchiha laughed. He returned to his seat, downed another shot glass, and tossed it haphazardly behind him.

During the entire engagement, Sakura had just sat there, too terrified to come to the aid of her friend. Slowly, she looked at her friend. "Sasuke, are you alright?" she whispered.

Sasuke nodded, his head rolling loosely down onto his chest as he did so. A single glance told everyone that the Uchiha was drunk as hell. He was practically swaying on his bar stool and his eyes were unfocused as he looked at Sakura. "Yeah, I'm fine, Sakura."

"You're bleeding," the pink-haired ninja pointed out. She grabbed Sasuke's hand and inspected it. A small stream of blood had formed on his flesh from where a shard of glass had punctured it. It was a shallow cut, but if not treated properly it could leave a nasty infection.

"I'll live." Sasuke muttered. He took another shot and slammed the glass on the bar hard enough to break it. Cursing incoherently, he tossed the broken glass aside.

Suddenly, Neji was beside the two ninjas. He did not say anything, but merely pointed towards the front door of the bar where two security ninjas had just entered. One of the waiters was speaking with them, and Sakura noticed they were looking in the direction of the bar quite frequently. No doubt someone had reported the fight and the police were here to make the appropriate arrests.

"It's time to leave, Sasuke," Sakura whispered. When Sasuke's only response was to order another shot of liquor, she shook him hard and said louder, "We have to leave now!"

The young Uchiha glared menacingly at her, causing Sakura to freeze in place. A cold fear descended over the pink-haired ninja, gripping her heart in an icy vice of terror as she contemplated that perhaps she had gone too far in approaching Sasuke. She knew he would never hurt her, but men blinded by the haze of intoxication were prone to act in manners unlike that of their normal selves. Sakura winced, waiting for him to hit her like he had done to the drunken thugs, but the blow never came. Instead, Sasuke calmly took another shot glass from the bartender, drank it in a single gulp, and then pulled Sakura towards him and engulfed her lips with his own.

Sakura was so shocked by the unexpected kiss that she did nothing to resist it. It was a violent kiss, brutal and animalistic without any pretense of civility. It hurt her lips as Sasuke's mouth pressed firmly against hers, and yet a brilliant light of ecstasy blinded her to pain. It was true that Sasuke might not be in his right mind, but this single blissful moment, this single kiss was the fruition of all her dreams and Sakura savored it selfishly. She drank it in until her head swam with pleasure, and even when the young Uchiha finally pulled away, Sakura craved for the warming touch of his lips once more. Like the servant to whimsical desires of her idolized god, she pined for his divine touch if only for one more second.

"Let's go," Sasuke said, the pungent smell of alcohol on his breath. Sakura just nodded and allowed herself to be led out of the club.

Once the two had departed, a pair of bouncers arrived to drag the unconscious men outside. The band resumed their playing and interest in the fight faded away as music once again filled the club. Fights were commonplace; it was nothing more than a transitory thrill to liven up the night. Within moments of Sasuke and Sakura's leaving, the Connection had returned to normal.

Naruto looked at Hinata, completely bewildered. "What the hell just happened?" He asked.

-----

Author's Notes:

Alcohol does weird stuff to you, so yeah, be responsible when drinking. That being said, hope you enjoyed chapter nine. It was fun to write. I figured Sasuke and Sakura needed a more spotlight. Thanks for the feedback, and keep reviewing. This story has received a nice eight-per-chapter reviews ratio so far and it would be fantastic to see that remain consistent or, better yet, go up! Oh, and summary had been altered for the front page; hopefully it's more enticing than before. What do you guys think? Oh, and Happy Valentines day people. Hope you have a good one!

The journey begins and things start going wrong almost immediately. Put eight ninjas with raging hormones in a city teeming with enemies and force them to share the same room _and _bed and see what happens. Will relationships deepen or will the newly wed couples drive each other crazy first? Or perhaps a little bit of both? All this and more in **Marital Trouble, **chapter ten of A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School.


	10. Chapter 10

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I was dreaming about how cool it would be if I owned Naruto. I think I would go around and mostly make fun of little kids and make them cry to bring some sort of validation into my existence. How that correlates to possession of Naruto is beyond me.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Ten: Marital Trouble **

Hatake Kakashi disliked rain. It was a type of weather he categorized with hurricanes, tsunamis and tornados -parts of life, but ones he could definitely do without. The enmity between the Konoha Jounin and the unfavorable weather was mutual. Just as Kakashi loathed rain, the rain also seemed to have something against him as well. Something bad always seemed to happen to the white-haired ninja on rainy days. Take the safe house for instance.

Kakashi looked around the "safe house" that the Hokage had selected for his team to operate out ofwhile in Kakami.It was the second floor of a local antique shop and was more or less an apartment that looked like someone had begun renovating it, but changed their mind halfway through. The walls were a mural of mixed colors, none of which matched, and the windows were boarded up with pieces of cardboard. No electricity ran to the room either, Kakashi discovered after pressing the switch to a non-existent light fixture, and the multitude of cracks in the roof leaked in the rainwater from outside. The pervasive stench of mold lingered in the apartment, and it would only get worst once the rain let up.

The white-haired Jounin sighed at the depressing state of the new living quarters he would have to endure for the next several weeks. He was tempted to rent a room at a nice inn and file the cost under "miscellaneous" when he reported the team's expenses, but the Hokage would probably ask for receipts to justify each and every expenditure Kakashi had made on behalf of Konoha. The old lady could be such a stickler when it came to money.

"Thanks, Tsunade," he muttered, stalking back into the living room. The only touch of civilization that graced the dismal apartment was a large stack of boxes that contained his team's equipment. Inside were maps, weapons, and communication transponders that Kakashi would have to unpack and set up before the first of the Genin teams arrived in Kakami. The white-haired Jounin glanced at his watch. He still had more than an hour.

With that in mind, he plopped himself down on the apartment's only piece of furniture –an old dilapidated sofa -extracted the pink novella from his vest, and began to read.

--------------------

To the casual observer, the young man and woman that strolled into the Paradise Hotel that rainy afternoon were no more than another set newly weds, no doubt the son and daughter of some rich trading tycoon if their gaudy apparel was any indication. The man had blonde, spiky hair and wore a black suit made of the finest material imported all the way from Cloud Country. His wife, a pretty little thing with short, dark blue hair, was dressed equally as extravagant in a low cut silk dress that shimmered in the hotel chandelier's artificial light. Behind them, carrying their luggage and shielding them with umbrellas from the rain, was the hotel staff, eager to accommodate their new, wealthy clients.

Uzumaki Naruto tried not to smile at the charade. His partner, Hyuga Hinata, stood beside him, her arm linked with his as they walked toward the front desk. He felt awkward wearing such expensive clothing. The jacket alone cost more than his meager stipend as a Genin made him in a year, but the money had been provided by the Hokage, and it seemed foolish to leave it unspent. They were acting the part of an affluent couple; it made sense to dress like it too.

That and the damn outfit itched like mad. He resisted the urge to scratch where the fuzzy collars rubbed uncomfortably against his neck, drawing inspiration from the cool, composed way Hinata was performing. She did not seem the list perturbed by all the attention they were receiving, as if the fawning and pampering by all these servants was normal. Naruto had to continually remind himself not to offer to help the poor hotel employee with their bags.

"Please tell the manager that Mr. and Mrs. Mimura are here," Hinata said. "And that we require the finest suite in your hotel."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Mimura," the employee behind the desk said nervously. "But I'm afraid you need a reservation if-"

Hinata reached into her purse and dropped a large pouch full of coins on the counter. It clattered loudly, echoing throughout the hotel and instantly silencing the clerk. "This is my reservation," she sneered haughtily. "Need I say more?"

"I will lead you to your rooms at once," said the clerk, greedily eyeing the heavy bag of money. "Please, follow me."

The clerk led Naruto and Hinata up several flights of stairs until they reached an elaborate looking red door. It was far removed from the rest of the rooms. Hinata guessed it's remoteness from the rest of the hotel's cliental was intentional, no doubt to nullify the volume produced by a newly wed couples' amorous love making, but for the two ninjas its privacy would serve a more practical purpose. With any luck, they would be able to come and go from the hotel without being seen by any of the guests or staff, and thus reducing the chances of their faces being remembered. On a stealth operation, familiarity with anyone other than your team mates was never a good thing.

The clerk fished into his pocket and removed a gold key. He opened the door and then stepped aside, allowing Hinata to curiously peek through. It was a large room, lavishly furnished with expensive pieces of decorative art that was conducive more to the atmosphere of wealth and riches than any actual aesthetic beauty. Their room was undeniably beautiful, but nothing exceptional. Having grown up in a wealthy family with their own private estate, Hinata was well acclimated to the finer aspects of life.

"Wow," Naruto whispered to Hinata. "Pretty swanky."

Hinata suspected her friend was dying to say more, or worse, itching to explore the room not unlike a child in their first museum. But thankfully, he was able to control himself. On their way to Kakami, Hinata was glad she had taken the opportunity to brief Naruto on what to suspect from their room in case he blew their cover. They were supposed to be a wealthy couple and Naruto's acting like a mere commoner would rouse suspicion.

Naruto took Hinata's hand and together they walked in.

"Everything seems to be in order," Hinata said, adopting an air of sophisticated snobbery that all rich people seemed to use. She reached into her purse again and withdrew a handful of coins which she tossed to the clerk. "You may leave now."

After the clerk had closed the door behind him when he left, Naruto grinned and leaped on the bed, bouncing on the springy mattress like a playful child. He looked at Hinata and with a teasing grin he said, "You seem pretty used to ordering people around."

The heir of the Hyuga clan blushed embarrassedly. "Merchants come to visit my clan estate all the time and that's the way they talk to their servants. It's quite degrading really."

"Yeah, being rich kind of sucks," laughed Naruto. He tugged at the irritable collar. "Especially the clothes. I don't know how you people stand wearing these things."

Hinata smiled. She remembered the first time she had to wear the lavish kimonos of the Hyuga clan during a wedding for a cousin. They were so hot and heavy that she had passed out from the heat in the middle of the ceremony, interrupting it for a half-hour while medical ninjas rushed to revive the young girl. Her father had been livid with Hinata and forced her to wear the kimono until she could wear it without fainting.

"You can take it off while we're in the room," Hinata suggested, not quite realizing the implication of her words until a second later when Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Good idea," He said, hastily stripping off the offending jacket and undershirt, leaving the young Genin shirtless on the bed. Hinata gasped and turned away, blushing madly. That wasn't really what she meant at all, though that nagging, inner part of her personality wasn't really complaining about the miscommunication.

_Don't look! It's not polite! _Her conscience told her.

_Look! He's doing it on purpose! _The more corrupt, moral-less side of her countered.

_No, he just misunderstood you! _

_Are you joking? He's a guy, but he's not a complete idiot! He wants you to look!_

_Well…I guess if you put it that way...Ok, fine. But only for a second!_

It was unnerving how easily her conscience had given into temptation. It was pathetic performance really, a gesture of resistance more than a concerted effort. But once again, the wicked side of Hinata that she suppressed daily had emerged if only briefly, and before her conscience could mount a second attempt at persuading the morally conflicted ninja against stealing a peek, Hinata slowly turned her head.

It wasn't the first time she had seen him shirtless. On a few occasions she had watched from afar while he and the other guys went swimming, but never had she seen him bare-chested so close. Like most of the other ninjas, Naruto was well toned, every muscle in his abdomen apparent. He had the body of an athlete more than a fighter, built for speed and grace; not strength.

"Gorgeous," Hinata whispered.

"Ara?" Naruto queried. "What did you say, Hinata?"

Flushing a brilliant shade of red, the young Hyuga quickly looked away again. "Nothing," she said shyly. Hastily, she did her best to recover her lost composure. "I suppose we should set up our things."

Naruto agreed and together they spent the next fifteen minutes unpacking their luggage. It was mostly clothing, more of the same expensive attire they would need to hold up their illusion of prosperity, but secreted away in hidden compartments was the ninja equipment they had smuggled past village customs. Together, they set up a variety of anti-intruder seals which they placed against the door and windows, and then began stashing away kunai, shruikens –various tools of the trade –underneath cushions, in flowers pots and other strategic positions. A good ninja was a ready ninja, and a ready ninja always had a weapon nearby. In the occasion that they should be ambushed in their rooms, both of them would have a tactical advantage of knowing where to locate weapons.

After they were finished, Naruto sat down on the bed. A moment later, a thought came to the young Genin, and sheepishly, he ran a hand through his hair. "Eh, Hinata?" he called anxiously. "I just realized there's…well…only one bed."

Hinata nodded, not daring to look at her friend in friend in the eye in case she fainted again out of sheer embarrassment. She had noticed the same dilemma as Naruto hours earlier minutes after they had been assigned to the same team, and during the long journey to Kakami she had been mulling the problem over in her head. Tapping her two index fingers together, a gesture she was known to perform when nervous, Hinata murmured something under her breath.

"Well?" Hinata asked hopefully.

"Hinata, I have no clue what you just said." Naruto replied blankly. "Again, slower this time?"

Trying to ignore how hot her face had become, Hinata said in a barely audible whisper, "I suppose we could share the bed."

She said this so incredibly quickly that Naruto was still not completely certain he had heard her correctly. Had she just suggested they share the same bed? The timid, shy Hinata had dared to offer something so bold? Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He was at a loss for words, a definite first for the loud mouthed ninja, and he quickly became aware of how awkward the silence felt.

Her suggestion was definitely not without its appeals. Hinata was on Naruto's "hot girls of Konoha High" list after all. But there were other definite factors to consider before taking the young Hyuga up on her offer, not the least of which was that Hinata belonged to an extremely wealthy family and had an insanely over protective father. If word ever got out about this, Naruto definitely did not want to have to answer to a man who was renowned for killing assassins with a single strike. The other element of this equation that stupefied the blonde-haired ninja was why Hinata was even contemplating something so risqué and socially inappropriate.

He scratched his chin, trying to buy some time. Hinata didn't even like him the last time he checked. He talked with her off and on and it was true he had been a bit more forward in flirting with the purple-haired ninja over the last month, but nothing to warrant Hinata falling in love with him so abruptly. Right? It wasn't like Hinata had been nurturing some childhood crush on him all this time. He wasn't _that _oblivious.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Naruto said casually, finally deciding that Hinata was just trying to be polite. "I'm used to sleeping on the floor. Thanks for offering, though."

Hinata stared at her friend for a long moment, her mouth hanging open in shock at the rejection. She inhaled deeply in a futile effort to console her crushed heart, but her devastated feelings would have none of it. Tears of anger sprang to her eyes, streaming down the side of her face, and deep inside, something snapped. Maybe it was all that suppressed anger. Or maybe it was all these years of unrequited affection. Or maybe it was just the stress from the anxiety of their first mission. Whatever it was, it made poor Hinata delicate psyche snap.

"I've fucking had it!" Hinata screamed loud enough to make Naruto jump.

Why had she fallen in love with such an idiot? Why couldn't this brainless moron tell how much she loved him? How was it possible was this ignorant buffoon could not pick up on her most overt attempts to display her affection? It had been ten years since she decided that she loved Naruto, and this stupid lout _still _could not even acknowledge her most forward endeavors to win his heart!

"Why do you have to be so dumb?" She yelled at Naruto. Hinata wanted to hit him, to slap him, to kick him in the shin as hard as she could -anything that might awaken this incompetent dimwit to her feelings for him.

Naruto cautiously approached the infuriated young girl. "Uh, Hinata?" he ventured, carefully putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she shouted. Roughly pushing his hand away, Hinata grabbed her purse and bolted for the door. She paused in the doorway, glaring at Naruto with undisguised malice. "I hate you!" She cried.

And with that she was gone.

The confused Genin just stood there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what had just happened. More importantly, he needed to figure out why Hinata had just gotten so mad at him. He didn't think he had said anything to provoke such an angry reaction, but then again, Hinata was a girl, and girls were innately irritable creatures prone to such hostile behavior. She couldn't help being so illogical and violent, but this unique turn of events did put Naruto in another difficult situation.

He looked out the window and once again took notice of the heavy rain pouring outside. Right now, if Hinata had gone outside like Naruto assumed she would, she was no doubt both angry and miserable. He could only imagine what rain did to that tight dress of hers. Wonderful things probably, but the question was whether or not Naruto was willing to confront her wrath once again to find out.

Naruto sighed. He thought Sakura was the only one who got so mad and irrational when offended. Apparently all girls were like that. Maybe Shikamaru was right about the fairer sex. How troublesome, indeed!

"God damn it!" Naruto snarled, kicking the bed.

----------------------------------

On the other side of the city, Hyuga Neji stared silently into the outside world from where he sat on the floor beneath the windowsill. It was still raining hard, torrents of rain falling freely from the ominous gray heavens, and there was little indication that it would be letting up soon. He frowned at this observation. He had wanted to do a little reconnaissance of the city before their first check in with Instructor, but the tourists he and Tenten were portraying would have little excuse to be scouting around Kakami with this torrential rain outside. The streets were bare of its usual pedestrians, and it would look more than a little odd if someone spotted two strangers roaming about when everyone else had wisely gone indoors to wait out the storm.

"Still raining, huh?" Tenten observed, peeking over the miniature stove that the room was equipped with. She had begrudgingly surrendered her trademark jumpsuit for a simple brown skirt and green blouse, attire more endemic to the area, and her black hair was braided into pig-tails that draped down her back.

Neji nodded. He was wearing a pair of gray trousers and a loose black tunic, and his long hair fell freely down the side of his face. Both of them had left their forehead protectors back in Konoha, eliminating any trace of their village affiliation.

The beautiful markswoman emerged from the room's small kitchen bearing two cups of steaming coffee. She handed one to Neji who graciously accepted it. They drank the hot brew in silence, both watching the peaceful cascade of rain outside.

"Why do you think they chose us as a team?" Tenten asked.

Neji took another sip of the coffee. It was hot enough that it burned his tongue and threatened to melt his lungs as it traveled down his throat. Perfect. "The Hokage must think we work well together."

"Think so?" she mused.

The young Hyuga thought for a second and then slowly nodded. "We both cooperate effectively with one another."

This comment made Tenten beam happily, Neji saw, and this caused him an unexplainable feeling of unease. He had not meant to imply any sort of connection linking the two ninjas together aside from their common loyalties to Konoha, and even Tenten's slightest indication of satisfaction hinted towards a potential miscommunication. Neji certainly did not want that, particularly not in the middle of their first B-Ranked mission, and momentarily entertained the idea of establishing the limitations of the strictly business relationship they shared. He wanted to tell her she was nothing more than an ally and he appreciated her talents, but not necessarily her company. He wished to make it completely clear that he was not interested in her any further than the mission entailed necessary.

But he didn't because it would have been a lie.

Truth be told, Neji's thoughts had continually returned to Tenten with alarming frequency over the last month. It was all because of the injury, the gash on his arm where Tenten's kunai had penetrated his Kaiten. The projectile had torn a ligament in his arm, and the healing process was taking longer than the medics had predicted. He could still operate at fully capacity, but using his wounded arm still hurt. The pain reminded him not so much of his failure on the battle field, but of the girl who had caused the injury, the girl who had the wit and ability to pull one of Hyuga Neji. Every time he used his arm, the pain reminded him of her.

His mouth twisted into a disgruntled scowl as he looked out the window. This was a distraction he did not need right now. Neji had always prided himself on his ability to remain calm and focused regardless of the situation, but Tenten's presence disrupted his concentration. He almost wanted to ask Instructor Kakashi to switch the teams so that he could focus more on the mission, yet that was the last thing he wanted to do as well. For the first time, his heart was rebelling against what his mind told him. Common sense dictated that he switch teams for the sake of the mission, but his emotions refused to let him do so.

"How is your arm doing?" Tenten asked curiously.

Neji shrugged and concisely said, "It's healing."

"I still have bruises thanks to you," the young markswoman said grinning. "It still hurts like hell to lie down on my stomach."

"You did say you didn't want me told hold back." the young Hyuga reminder her.

"Yeah, well, you surprised me I must admit. Don't think you'll be so lucky next time."

"I look forward to it."

Tenten cocked her head sideways. "Really?" She asked curiously. She could not recall Neji ever expressing interest in doing anything ever. He usually just went ahead and did it without consulting anyone else.

"It's been a long time since anyone has injured me," Neji replied, tapping his wounded arm meaningfully. "You're the first one to show the potential to actually defeat me."

Her classmate's bold arrogance made Tenten chuckle. For a moment it almost sounded like Neji was softening a bit, revealing the humane interior hidden away buried beneath his icy personality. It was nice knowing that he wasn't the soulless robot that many perceived Neji to be, but there was something unique about his stern persona that appealed to Tenten. While many of the other girls had been driven away by Neji's indifferent attitude towards other, Tenten found herself strangely attracted by it nonetheless.

It also helped he was absolutely gorgeous and brilliant. That also might have contributed somewhat to Tenten's liking for the young Hyuga.

She walked over towards where Neji sat and placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her questioningly. There was something oddly comforting about her touch; it had a warm soothing presence that radiated its own glow ofoptimismin contrast to the grim,gloomy weather outside. His instinctive reaction was to draw away from her hand, topull himself in a protective shell void of any interfering influences, but gradually he relaxed and somehow his own hand found its way on top of hers.

"Don't think of taking advantage of me, Hyuga Neji," Tenten teased lightly.

Neji snorted derisively. "You wish."

The young girl smiled.

_Yeah, _she thought to herself, _I do._

_-------------------------------------_

Author's Notes:  
Jeez, how can guys be so dense? And how can girls be so irrationally overactive? And why is this story resort to cheesy clichés and overused generalities to advance the plot? More action and killing up ahead for all you action buffs to offset the romance. This arc will last up until chapter fourteen about I'm guessing, and will introduce some more familiar Naruto characters into the mix. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. I planned to write a Sakura/Sasuke part too, but I got busy on a different writing project so unfortunately it got canceled. Probably no update next week too as I have quite a bit of stuff going on.

Make sure you drop a review because reviews are just awesome. Oh, also, if you want me to review a story you're currently working on, feel free to mention that in your review and I'll be happy to take the time to read your work.

What happens when ninjas go gambling in casino and Sasuke loses all their money? They need to get that information about Gato, the underground crime syndicate boss, somehow, but will they go so far as to wager Sakura's body to cover one decisive hand of cards? And what happens when they runs into a beautiful woman…who really isn't a woman at all? Find out in Chapter Eleven, **Ante Up, **coming soon!


	11. Chapter 11

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Check back next week to see if I have Naruto. Until then unfortunately I do not. But I do own this story! Sweet!

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Eleven: Ante Up **

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea, Sasuke." Sakura mentioned for the third time in the space of the last ten minutes. She was under no illusion that this time would prove any more successful in dissuading her stubborn partner than the last two, and predictably she was correct. Sasuke, who walked beside her under the umbrella they shared, merely shrugged dismissively, an acknowledgement that he had heard her, but no indication that he actually cared.

The pink-haired ninja frowned and trudged through the ankle deep, murky rainwater on the streets to keep up with Sasuke. She wished she had thought to change out of the red dress and high heels she had been wearing before going out into the rain. Sasuke, however, had selected to remain in the elaborate clothing the Hokage had provided for the sake of the mission, and Sakura was slightly comforted by the fact. Sasuke was never wrong, and if he decided to do something, it was for a very good reason.

But even then, Sakura could not shake the nagging feeling of doubt about her friend's latest choice. It was foolish, unnecessary, irresponsible, and most importantly, dangerous. To anyone else she would have spoken her mind already in great length and volume, but how could she summon the courage to reproach the man she so devotedly lionized?

"Shouldn't we wait for Instructor Kakashi or the others?" Sakura asked cautiously. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally upset Sasuke, but then again, neither did she really wish to persist in this foolish and potentially suicidal course of action.

"I told you, Sakura," Sasuke explained patiently. "Instructor Kakashi told us we're on our own. That means gathering intelligence as well. The sooner we acquire important information, the sooner we'll be able to make our move and get out of here."

Sakura bit her lip, uncertain of what to say. On one hand Sasuke's logic made sense. This was a B-Rank mission and thus certain risks were expected of them to obtain their mission objective. But on the other, making a move without advising the rest of their team seemed too reckless to justify any information they might procure from this venture.

"I'm sure the rest are doing the same thing." Sasuke added.

The pink-haired ninja looked at the falling rain and the empty streets. For some reason she highly doubted her friends were out scouring the city on such a precarious errand. More than likely they were out of the cold rain, snuggled up nice and warm in their rooms.

"You can go back to the room if you want to," The young Uchiha said, sensing Sakura's unease about his plan. "But to make this reconnaissance worth anything I'll need your help."

Sakura was thoroughly ashamed she actually considered Sasuke's offer for a moment. She could say it was merely common sense that prevented her from committing to such a foolhardy plan, but deep inside, she knew it was only the fear. It was her fear of death that made her reluctant to step into harm's way, and her fear of the unknown that stopped her from doing her job. Cowardice told her to retreat back to the safety of her room. Her commitment to her friends and to their mission told her to take the risk.

"You actually need me?" Sakura asked after a while. "I'm not just getting in the way?"

Sasuke nodded. "We're a team, right?"

Sakura smiled. "Right."

They walked in the pouring rain for a few more minutes, making a turn when Sasuke indicated, until finally they arrived at their destination. It was a large wooden building with a series of glowing lanterns dangling from the small covered walkway that extended from the entrance. The doors were shut and two burly men stood in front of it, their eyes watching the streets vigilantly from behind the dark sunglasses they wore.

"Inviting looking," Sakura muttered darkly.

They stopped short of the building and Sasuke indicated Sakura towards a cluster of trees nearby. After ducking behind them, Sasuke said, "If the information I got was reliable this is the largest underground casino in Kakami."

"What?" Sakura demanded, narrowing her eyes. "A casino? What are we doing at a casino?"

"We're a married couple out to have some fun." Sasuke replied. "And maybe learn a few things about Gato at the same time."

"You think someone is just going to tell us information about a major crime syndicate boss if we play some cards with them?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"If the stakes are right," the young Uchiha said confidently. "This is an illegal gambling den. Find the right people and ask the right questions and we'll find Gato."

Before Sakura could protest further, Sasuke tossed aside the umbrella and grabbed her wrist. Laughing like a maniac, he raced toward the door, pulling Sakura behind him as they charged through the rain. Following behind, she could see that he was smiling, as if all was right in the world. Sakura had never seen him smile before and the realization made her join in Sasuke's laughter. Sopping wet and giggling like drunken fools, the two ninjas stumbled under the cover of the walkway and made their way for the door.

"Excuse me, sir." One of the door guards said. "I'm afraid I can't let you in."

Sasuke threw his head back and roared with laughter like the man had said something funny. "What are you talking about? Check the list for a Mr. and Mrs. Chichiro."

The guard glanced at the clipboard he had tucked under his arm. "I'm sorry, but you're not on the list."

"What?" exploded Sasuke. He glanced at Sakura, his face bearing a mask of scandalized shock. "Do you hear that, sweet heart? We're not on the list."

This ridiculous charade made Sakura want to break into a fit of hysterical laughter. It was just too much. Sasuke was acting so completely out of character it made her want to break into tears of amusement. But for some reason, she decided that might be a tad overboard. They were rich kids looking to blow some money on cheap thrills, not a pair of escapees from a mental asylum.

"Terrible, dear." Sakura responded. A mischievous idea crept into her mind, and before rational thinking could make its argument, she threw herself onto Sasuke, wrapping her herself around him and pulling him close. She rested her head against his chest, no longer needing to feign her happiness as she silently enjoyed the warmth of the young Uchiha's body. After all, if she was going to play the part, she might as well have some fun at the same time.

Sasuke seemed completely unfazed and encircled her slim body with his arms. "We're just here to have some fun," he explained. As he said this, one of his hands ventured dangerously low, trailing its way down Sakura's hips and coming to a rest on her rear. The pink-haired ninja forced herself to suppress a gasp of shock. Unsure of how she was supposed to react to such an audacious advance, she just smiled sweetly at the guard.

"You're going to have to go somewhere else, sir." The guard replied.

Sasuke sighed and reached into his pocket, removed a wad bills from his wallet, and handed it to the guard. "Check for our names again."

The guard took the bills, examined them for a moment as if to inspect their validity, and then pocketed the cash. He looked at his clipboard again. "Chichiro with a 'ch'?" he asked. They nodded and the guard motioned for his companion to open the door.

"Enjoy your stay, Mr. and Mrs. Chichiro," the guard said as the two ninjas stepped through the doorway.

"Thanks," Sasuke said. His hand was removed and Sakura was able to breathe freely again. "We will."

----------------------------

Hyuga Hinata was cold, wet and miserable. She knew she had made a mistake the moment she had fled from the hotel room, leaving a shocked Naruto in her wake, but her anger had blinded her to it. She realized her mistake again in the lobby as she prepared to leave the hotel, and this time it was her pride that compelled her to keep going. But when she acknowledged her mistake for the third time, framed in the doorway of the hotel with a world of pouring rain outside, it could only have been stupidity that encouraged her to venture forth into this terrible weather without an umbrella.

Still fueled with fury by the denseness of the man she loved, she had walked down the street and made a random turn, uncaring of where she was going as long as it was away from him. This aimless wandering continued for about five more minutes, the amount of time it took for Hinata's rage to be subdued and her sensibilities to return. A strong gust of wind whipped through her blue hair, spraying her with ice cold mist, awakening the young girl to her less than favorable situation. She had been walking pointlessly in the rain and was now soaked to her skin, freezing, and completely lost. Shivering, Hinata ducked underneath a public shrine and sat down next to the statue of the shrine's patron deity. Wrapping her arms around her body in a vain attempt to warm herself, the young Hyuga whimpered pitifully.

"I screwed up big time." Hinata muttered. She looked at the statue beside her, a small fat, bald man who was smiling toothily. "What are you smiling about?" She asked it.

A groan of dismay escaped her lips as she sat there, contemplating what to do next. Naruto probably hated her and rightfully so. How could she have said something so mean to him? Sure he was as dense as a block sometimes, but that should have been expected. She should have been more forward, more aggressive so that he knew her feelings without a doubt!

But so much for that idea now.

She wanted so badly to return to the hotel and beg for forgiveness. She wanted to assure him she had not meant any of what she said. She wanted to tell him she loved him. But how would Naruto respond? Would he be angry with her? No, he was too nice to get mad at anyone. But this was different. She had said she hated him! How could anyone forgive that?

Tears formed in her pale eyes as potential scenario in Hinata's mind grew worse and worse. Maybe Naruto would hit her or maybe he would angrily turn her away and demand another partner from Instructor Kakashi. He would probably be reassigned with Sakura who would take advantage of the situation and…and…

"All I wanted was for him to like me," she sobbed, burying her head into her arms.

Cold, scared, and with nothing but her worst fears to comfort her, Hinata sat there under the sanctuary of the old shrine, tears streaming down her cheeks. How long she sat there she could not remember, but at some point or another she must have fallen asleep, because when she opened her eyes again, it was pitch black outside.

"Terrific," she whimpered. Not only had her stupidity ruined any chance with Naruto, but it had probably made her miss the meeting with Instructor Kakashi as well. To top it off, it was still raining steadily even though the clouds had faded; leaving only translucent whips that thinly veiled the bright moon. The only way her bleak predicament could get any worst was if an asteroid happened to fall out of the sky and squish her flat, and even then that did not seem so terrible in comparison to her disastrous day. Death would be a welcome release from her misery.

Hinata wiped away her dried tears and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She tried to summon the courage she would need to confront her team mates, but understandably it did not come readily. At best she was facing suspension of her license to operate as a Konoha ninja for failing so glaringly on her first meaningful mission. At worst, Instructor Kakashi might be mad enough to recommend Hinata for a court-martial. Neither option was overly appealing to Hinata. She gathered the skirt of her dress, which had dried somewhat during her stay at the shrine, and prepared to set off into rain when something stirred loudly beside her.

Alarmed, Hinata looked at saw that it was not something that had moved, but _someone! _In the darkness, it was hard to distinguish if the stranger was an enemy or just another refugee from the rain, but Hinata's ninja instincts reacted nonetheless. Her hand grabbed the kunai she had concealed in a thigh holster underneath her dress, and with pin-point accuracy, pressed the razor sharp tip against the stranger's throat.

"Move and I kill you," warned Hinata. "Who the hell are you?"

The stranger chuckled humorously, an endearing sound that Hinata had heard all too many times in the past. In fact, she heard it daily in the classrooms of Konoha High, a melodious noise that punctuated every prank and antic that occurred in school. It was then that she realized this wasn't a stranger at all that was she threatening, but…

The kunai slipped from her hands and clattered on the ground. Her hands flew to her mouth and she gasped in horror. "Oh my god, Naruto!"

"Still mad at me, huh?" asked Naruto. The spiky-haired trouble maker was leaning against the wall of the shrine, practically doubled under its spacious ceiling. He smiled warily at Hinata, ready to flee if his team mate made a move to kill him. Girls were so unpredictable that way. They greeted you with a smile to lull boys into a false sense of security, and then went straight for the jugular with all the feral animosity of a wild tiger. Or at least that was what Sakura had done to him once in sixth grade when he put bugs in her sandwich.

"N-no," stammered Hinata hastily. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously. She did not look like she was going to hit him, but a ninja was always prepared for unsuspected duplicity. Surreptitiously, he edged to the front of the shrine as he answered. "Well when you ran away, I thought it might make sense to follow you and make sure you didn't get lost."

Hinata glared at her partner. "I-I didn't get lost!" she protested, part of her resentment against Naruto still smoldering deep within. "I was just…"

"And then I tracked you here and you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you up. I guess I fell asleep while I was waiting," Naruto concluded sheepishly.

Folding her arms crossly, Hinata said, "I didn't need your help."

"Oh," the spiky-haired ninja replied. It was too dark to tell, but Hinata could have sworn he looked distinctly crestfallen at the moment. "Well, yeah. Sorry about that then. It's just, you know we're supposed to be a team and…"

He frowned and started to rise. "I guess I'll just head to the briefing then."

Hinata raised an eyebrow in surprise. "The briefing? You mean it's not over?"

Naruto nodded. "I set my watch to go off when it's time." He displayed the small watch around his wrist. Its glowing green numbers told Hinata they still had another thirty minutes before they were to meet with Instructor Kakashi. "Well, I'll see you later then, Hinata."

"Yeah…" murmured Hinata. Naruto slowly peaked under the roof of the shrine and then left the protective cover of the shrine. He stood there for a moment, oblivious of the rain that soaked his elaborate suit, and his eyes turned to stare at her. There was sadness to those azure eyes; a hurt that pierced through Hinata's soul and gnawed at her conscious. His pain made her feel good. It appeased her irritation knowing that her scathing rejection hurt him as much as his obtuse indifference had hurt her. He was finally feeling what she had endured for all these years…so why the guilt? Why that horrible, rotten feeling in the pit of her stomach that made her want to vomit?

"I'll see you later then." She finished lamely.

Naruto nodded slowly, and then turned and began walking away.

_It was what he deserved…_Hinata thought victoriously as she watched him leave.

_Was it? _That nagging part of her conscious replied.

_Of course. He ignored me, belittled me; made me feel worthless. _

_He did not recognize that you care for him. Who is to blame for that?_

_I was about as subtle as a sucker punch to the throat. _

_Maybe you should've punched him in the throat. Maybe that would've gotten his attention._

_If he didn't figure it out yet, it's clear he doesn't care._

_And that was why he trekked through the rain and then waited for hours by your side to make sure you were safe? _

And then Hinata finally understood.

_Oh crap…_

Without thinking, she ran out of the shrine and raced after Naruto. He was still walking slowly down the street, his head hung low, but he glanced around at the sound of footsteps behind him. Soaked strands of blonde hair dangling in front of his eyes, he looked shocked when he saw his team mate approaching.

"Hinata?" He called.

"N-Naruto…" Hinata whispered. She was crying again, harder this time as the dam containing her suppressed emotions finally opened. The tears that spilled from her pearly eyes caught the light of the moon, making them shimmer brightly in the darkness of night. Slowly, she walked towards him, and wordlessly wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I thought you said you hated me," Naruto said quietly.

"I could never hate you," she sobbed.

Hinata gazed up into the face of her friend, and Naruto was struck just by how beautiful she looked. He had always thought she was pretty, but all the times he had stared at her in the hallways was nothing compared to how radiant she looked right now. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes were ruined, but that could not begin to detract from her lustrously gorgeous presence.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Hinata said. "I'm sorry for-"

Naruto gently placed his hand over her mouth, hushing the heir of the Hyuga clan. "We're friends. A true friend always forgives."

"Then you're not mad at me?" Hinata asked hopefully.

Naruto smiled. "Are _you_ mad at me?"

"Not anymore," she answered softly.

"Then neither am I."

Neither spoke for a while. They were soaked to the skin and it was freezing outside, but neither felt the necessity to leave the comforting presence of the other. Their togetherness shielded them from the cold, and both feared that the slightest disruption might shatter the bond that had formed between them. Gradually, their hands found each other and their fingers intertwined.

"Let's get out of here," said Hinata. Naruto nodded in agreement, and hand in hand, they raced down the empty streets. Neither knew exactly where they were going, but for some reason, that did not seem to bother them. They would get there one way or the other, and when they did, they would arrive together.

As they ran, Naruto yelled over the pouring rain, "I'm sorry too, you know."

"I thought you said friends didn't need to ask for forgiveness," Hinata shouted back.

"They don't," Naruto laughed, squeezing her hand playfully.

Neither of them noticed the pair of eyes following them the entire time. After the two ninjas had left, a cloaked figure emerged from a nearby alleyway. The man was tall and lanky, and from inside the shadows of his voluminous hood, the metal plating of a forehead protector reflected the moon's luminous rays. There was nothing significant about the headband, nothing to separate it from any other ninja that might frequent the city of Kakami. There was nothing special about it except most of the ninjas that ended up in Kakami bore the emblem of the Hidden Village of the Leaf.

This one did not.

-----------------------------------

Haruno Sakura was surprised by the atmosphere of the casino. Given its illegal nature, she suspected that it would be populated by a host of Kakami's criminal denizens, a motley assortment of the worst of the city's underworld. However, that was far from the case. Dispersed throughout the casino were normal looking men and women who were merely testing their luck at one of the many games of chance that the gambling den offered. They were middle aged for the most part, but their midst was punctuated periodically by the odd retired, trading merchant or a young couple like Sakura and Sasuke. All were lavishly attired, adorned in the glitz and glamour that their enormous wealth commanded. Even wearing the nicest dress that Sakura had ever worn in her life, she felt downright shabby compared to some of the other women.

She took a sip of the complimentary cocktail that a waitress had placed in front of her some time ago. The ice had melted long ago, diluting the potency of the drink and ruining the taste, but that was the furthest thing on the young girl's mind at the moment.

"Twenty-one to Mr. Chichiro!" a man announced. "Winner!"

Sitting next to her, Sasuke grinned and eagerly reached across the gaming table they were playing at, scooped up a large pile of chips and deposited them into the huge stack already in front of him. The man, the dealer judging from his casino uniform, smiled back and began shuffling the cards again.

"This can't be your first time playing Black Cat, can it Mr. Chichiro?" The dealer asked friendlily.

Sasuke smirked. "What can I say? I'm just lucky tonight."

The dealer chuckled appreciatively and began passing out the cards.

Sakura tried her best not to sigh. She was bored. Sasuke had been playing this stupid game for almost two hours now and they were no closer to obtaining their objective than when they started. In fact, the only new knowledge Sakura had acquired was the basics of the card game Sasuke was emerged in.

It was called Black Cat, a game played with fifty-two cards ranging one through ten, where the objective for the players was to reach no more than twenty-one using two or more dealt cards. The catch was the Black Cat- normal cards with drawings of black, felines with glowing bulbous eyes- which had a value of one or eleven were also inserted in the deck. Combine a Black Cat card and a ten as your first two cards and you'd reach Black Cat –an automatic win over the dealer who also sought to gain the highest hand at the table.

Sasuke seemed pretty adept at playing. Occasionally he would "bust" or take one card too many and go over twenty-one, but for every loss he won twice as much the next time. A huge stack of chips were piled in front of him, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the casino's other customers. A large audience had steadily gathered around their table to observe Sasuke's uncanny prowess at Black Cat.

"My eighteen beats your seventeen," Sasuke announced after the cards were dealt. "I win."

"Indeed you do, Mr. Chichiro," the dealer replied. He passed another column of chips in Sasuke's direction who gladly added them to his enormous collection. Without even counting all the chips, Sakura estimated Sasuke had compiled almost ten times as much as they had started out with.

Idly, Sasuke span one of his chips on the table. "This is getting boring, honey." He said to his 'wife'. "I need a challenge. Something exciting to keep this interesting."

"You're taking all their money, darling." Sakura replied sweetly. Her fingers danced up Sasuke's shoulder and came to a rest on his lips. "You're just too damn good."

"I am, aren't I?" the young Uchiha said. He rose from his seat and Sakura joined him. "This is getting boring. Perhaps we should seek our venue of entertainment elsewhere."

"I wouldn't do that." A man stepped out the crowd, a small, fat man who was aging terribly. He was balding, and even the high collar of the expensive suit he wore could not disguise the rolls of fat on his neck. He extended a hand to Sasuke. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tonka, manager of this casino."

"The manager, huh?" said Sasuke, shaking the hand. "A pleasure I'm sure."

Tonka walked around to the other side of the table, casually dismissing the dealer with a flick of his hand. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."

"I'm winning if that's what you mean."

"Winning, but bored I see." Tonka smiled. "I might be able to help you with that."

"And what if my husband does not need your help?" Sakura wondered. She did not even know Tonka and she already disliked him. She knew his type. He was as oily as they came with not an ounce of honesty or integrity to their name. She hoped Sasuke saw that in the casino manager as well.

"Oh he will, beautiful." Tonka promised. "For I'm going to offer a challenge, a challenge that I sincerely doubt you will turn down. You see, when I play, I only play big."

"How big?" Sasuke wondered interestedly.

The fat manager thought for a moment. "What say all your chips? On one hand?"

"A big risk," the young Uchiha replied. "The rewards should be comparable."

"What do you suggest?" Tonka asked.

"I need information. Certain information about a man named Gato I think you can provide me with," Sasuke said. "I'll wager all my chips in exchange for doubling my winnings and that information."

The request was unexpected. Tonka seemed wordless for a moment. "What do you kids want with Mr. Gato?" he inquired.

"That's irrelevant. Now do we have a deal?"

"That information is quite valuable. Too valuable in fact. If you want the information you'll have to ante up with more than just money."

"What do _you _suggest, then?" Sasuke asked.

This time there was no hesitation in Tonka's response. He looked at Sakura and beamed at her, dragging his tongue slowly across his lower lip and slurping loudly. "I want your gorgeous wife's body. One night with her."

Fortunately for Sakura, she was too stunned by Tonka's perverted request to be offended enough to hurl her drink at him. Instead, she laughed scornfully and wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck. "My husband would never allow something so ridiculous you poor, depraved man."

Sasuke reached up and pried Sakura's arms off of him.

"I accept." He said.

The reaction was as instantaneous as it was violent. Without thinking, letting her blind anger guide her, Sakura's hand lashed out, viciously striking Sasuke across the face.

"How dare you?" shrieked Sakura.

Sasuke pretended like he didn't hear her, casually wiping away the rivulet of blood that snaked from his busted lip. "I said I accept."

"He accepts but I do not." protested the pink-haired ninja heatedly. "This is insane."

"We need the information. This is the only way to get it." Sasuke explained. He winked at Sakura and then kissed her. With his lips clasped around hers, Sakura's anger ebbed away, surrendering to the tidal wave of ecstasy that eclipsed her entire being. When it was over, she could only nod weakly.

"Besides," he reassured his partner. "I never lose."

He turned back to Tonka. "Deal the cards."

Tonka dealt his cards first. A ten and a five were placed on the table in front of the casino owner. Sakura's heart practically leapt with joy upon seeing the dismal hand that Tonka had drawn. At fifteen points, if he hoped to contest with Sasuke's hand, would have to draw another card where getting a ten and busting was incredibly high. The manager looked at his cards carefully, inspecting them as if trying to draw some inner meaning from the numbers staring up at him. Finally, he declared, "I'll stay at fifteen."

"You're staying at fifteen?" Sasuke remarked, raising an eyebrow curiously. "Dangerous."

"Perhaps not as dangerous as you might think my young friend." Tonka snapped. He reached into the deck and tossed Sasuke his first card.

"A three," Sasuke muttered grimly. Whatever excitement Sakura had been harboring instantly dwindled into nothing. If he drew a ten on the next draw –a very real possibility- his hand would be even worst than Tonka's.

"Don't worry," Tonka snickered, eying Sakura lecherously. He licked his lips, his perverted gaze never leaving her breasts. "I'll take good care of you."

Flushing furiously, Sakura crossed her arms defiantly across her chest. "Like hell you will."

The next card was dealt. It was an eight, making a total of eleven points in Sasuke's hand.

"Not so unlucky after all," Sasuke smirked. All he needed was a ten and he'd hit twenty-one, a definite win against the fifteen points that Tonka was showing on the table. He tapped the green felt surface. "Give me another card."

"You only get one more card," Tonka reminded Sasuke. That was another rule of the game Sakura had identified. When drawing on eleven, the player was only allowed to take one additional card to increase the chance of the dealer winning.

"I know the rules. Give me a card."

"As you wish." The casino manager said. He tossed Sasuke his last card.

_Oh shit…oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…_

Smiling mockingly at Sakura was the visage of the Black Cat.

"Twelve points or twenty-two points," gloated Tonka in delight. "I win."

Sasuke did not say anything at first, staring in mute horror at his losing hand. He had just lost. He had never lost before. Ever. With a cry of dismay he buried his face in his hands.

"Don't worry about a thing, Mr. Chichiro." Tonka said nastily. "I'll be sure to enjoy your wife for the both of us tonight."

Sakura recoiled in disgust at the casino manager's words. Then and there she vowed she would sooner die than submit to such a horrendous little man. She could feel the outline of the slim kunai strapped to her inner thigh, and had to resist the urge to draw it and prepare for the battle that was soon to come. Sasuke had pushed his luck too far, and now they would both have to fight their way out of it.

"I'm sorry, honey." Sasuke whispered. "Forgive me."

"Don't talk to me," Sakura said furiously, her anger genuine and not the product of the elaborate façade they were entertaining. She had warned Sasuke that this was a bad idea, but the young Uchiha had insisted on doing something so reckless where this sort of fateful conclusion was inevitable. Never before had she been so much as annoyed by her idol; his utter perfection blinded her to whatever trivial faults he may have possessed. But now she could barely contain the urge to reach across the table and punch Sasuke for being so dumb.

"So tell me, Mr. Chichiro. How does your wife like it in bed?" Tonka asked.

Sasuke's hands lowered, revealing his face. He was no longer frowning, no trace of sorrow or remorse present. Instead, he was grinning.

And that, Sakura decided, was definitely not good.

In a blaze of lightening fast movement, Sasuke lunged over the desk and drew a dagger from the back of his pants. He landed on the ground next to Tonka's chair, and slammed the manager's face hard into the table. A loud crunch resounded in the casino as bones broke, and when Sasuke flung him back up, his face was a bloody mask of gore. But Sasuke was not done. He grabbed the man again and this time stabbed the knife he carried in the middle of Tonka's palm.

Tonka's cries of pain pierced through the relatively quiet casino, drawing stares and the attention of the guards. Two uniformed bouncers were rushing towards their table, weapons drawn, but Sakura was waiting for them. In moments, the two guards had felt the wrath of one of Konoha's best female ninjas, and were lying in a crumpled heap at the pink-haired ninja's feet. The rest of the guards were wise enough to stand back and watch. They were probably not paid enough to warrant handling anything more than the occasional drunk. Ninjas were way out of their league.

"You think I didn't notice you cheating," scoffed Sasuke.

"What are you talking about?" Tonka protested. "I didn't cheat!"

"Bullshit," spat the raven-haired ninja. "You cheated and now you're going to tell me everything you know about Gato."

"You're out of your mind! I'm not going to tell you any-"

Sasuke bashed the casino owner's face into the table again. When he raised it again, Tonka did not have much of a nose left. His face was an unrecognizable mess, covered in dripping scarlet and swelling bruises.

"Fine!" yelled Tonka, his eyes screwed shut in agony. "Fine!"

"Then start talking!" snarled Sasuke.

Breathing deeply in ragged laborious gasps of air, Tonka began his confession. "Gato operates in Kakami." He whimpered.

Sasuke twisted the dagger embedded in the fat man's palm, ignoring Tonka's girlish cry of pain. Sakura winced and involuntarily rubbed her own hand, perhaps even feeling a little bit sympathetic for the lecherous manager's suffering. "I already know that!" the young Uchiha yelled. "Tell me something I don't know!"

"I can't! They'll kill me!" Tonka wailed.

"Tell me or I'll kill you!" Sasuke replied in a tone so menacing that even Sakura did not doubt the validity of this threat. Roughly, he withdrew the dagger from Tonka's palm and placed the edge of the bloody weapon against the manager's throat. "Tell me."

"Sasuke, are you sure we should be doing this," Sakura whispered nervously, noticing the shocked stares of the patrons and the other casino guards. She did not like Tonka one bit, but she could not help feeling that there was something innately wrong about torturing people for information no matter how evil they might be. When Tsunade told them to gather intelligence about Gato's operation, surely this was not what she meant.

"Stay out of this!" Sasuke snapped at Sakura. Leaning close to Tonka's face, he hissed, "Last chance before I cut your throat wide open."

Tonka began weeping. Large tears formed in his eyes and rolled down his fat cheeks, and he began bawling. He was a pitiful sight. Forced over his own playing table and with a dagger pressed to his throat, the tears were the final straw for Sakura. Only moments ago, Tonka was set on raping her, but she could not bear the sight of Sasuke tormenting him in such a hideous fashion.

"Stop this!" Sakura shouted. "It isn't right!"

Sasuke did not even spare his team mate a glance. Paying no heed to Sakura's plaintive objections, he pressed the tip of the blade into Tonka's skin hard enough to draw a droplet of blood. "Tell me what you know!"

"Fine!" screamed Tonka, the last of his determination to keep his ally a secret finally crumbling in the face of his cowardice. "Fine! I'll tell you!"

The young Uchiha released some pressure on Tonka, allowing the manager to sit up but keeping the dagger close to the man's throat.

"Gato works with ninjas from the Village of Mist." explained the casino manager. "He's employed two enforcers! Their names are-"

Whatever else Tonka was going to say ended in a blood curling scream as his throat suddenly erupted in a geyser of crimson. His eyes rolled back, his lifeblood spraying a fine mist over the terrified spectators, and then his body pitched forward to come to a rest on the table. Protruding from the back of his neck was a thin, steel projectile that Sasuke had no trouble identifying as a throwing needle.

"Behind you!" Sakura yelled.

Standing behind them was a young woman. She was breathtakingly beautiful with long, silky black hair, and was clad in a tight green kimono that complimented her thin curvaceous figure. Her skin was as white as snow, a pale tone that accentuated the lushness of her lips and made her stunningly attractive features all the more appealing. In her small, delicate hands, a slim needle twirled expertly between her fingers, the same kind of needle that had just pierced through Tonka's throat.

The crowd opened for her to pass through, and the mysterious young woman stopped at the gambler's dead corpse. She pulled the needle free of his neck, spraying blood everywhere as the gruesome wound reopened, and wiped it on the back of the dead man's suit before returning it to a holster strapped around her wrist.

"Who are you?" asked Sakura shakily, eying the assassin nervously.

The girl smiled at her, a serene smile that looked perversely wrong on her pretty face. She had just murdered a man in cold blood, and the fact that she could still smile as if nothing was wrong chilled Sakura's blood.

"Who are you?" It was Sasuke this time who nervously demanded this. He sounded frightened. Sakura did not know if this was a merely a continuation of his charade or if he genuinely was unnerved by this unexpected turn of events.

"I am a representative of Mr. Gato," The girl told Sasuke. "He has heard you've been asking about him and wishes to meet with you."

"He wants to meet with us?" asked Sasuke, surprised.

The smiling assassin nodded. "You've done a great favor to Mr. Gato by exposing Mr. Tonka as a cheat. We've suspected he's been stealing from us, and Mr. Gato feels that he owes you his gratitude."

"He doesn't owe us anything," Sakura replied quickly. "We were happy to help out."

"Nonsense." The girl told the pink-haired ninja. "I was instructed specifically to escort you to meet Mr. Gato, and I can not return without my orders being followed."

Sasuke eyed the strange girl carefully. She was a ninja. There was no doubt about that. No one else could have hurled a needle with the speed and precision necessary to kill a man. Was this the aforementioned ninja that the dead Tonka had spoken of? "What's your name?"

The girl tossed her head back, flipping her mane of black hair casually out of her face. "My name is Haku."

-----  
Author's Notes:  
Get it Black Jack? Black Cat? Bad luck? That kick ass manga series by Yabuki Kentaro? Totally not happy with how this chapter turned out. Bah. That's the way things go sometimes. Better chapter next time. Promise. Sort of.

In other news, A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School has reached a super sweet 12,000 hit and an average of nine reviews per chapter. This just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Given the competitive nature of Naruto fanfiction on I honestly never thought that A Ninja's Guide would find such a receptive audience. Thanks a lot you guys!

Need some reader feedback for this one. What do you think of Haku? Should it be a girlish looking guy, or just a girl? For the sake of remaining loyal to the canonical Naruto storyline I was going to make it a guy, but since a Ninja's Guide is already AU, I thought of changing Haku to a girl. What do you think?

What in the world has Asuka and Kiba been up to all this time? You know –that _other _team that was deployed? And what happens when it turns out Gato has some super powerful ninjas in his arsenal? And will Kakashi ever finish that stupid novella of his? Find out in **Chapter Twelve: It's A Trap! **coming soon!


	12. Chapter 12

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. For kicks, I looked up my family lineage to see if it connects somewhere with this in the hope that I might have some claim to the series if he were to have an unfortunate accident and die. Turns out I don't, which means he's safe. For now. In other news, A Ninja's Guide was written by me and shouldn't be reproduced without permission. Shiggidy.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twelve: It's a Trap!**

Kiba was not a happy teenager. Maybe it was the fact that he had spent the better part of the last two days living nomadically inside bushes, gutters, and briefly even a festering sewer as the search for the crime lord, Gato, took him, Akamaru, and his partner from one side of the city to the other. Or maybe it was being cramped for far too long alongside his team mate, Asuka, who as well as being ridiculously beautiful, also just so happened to be the most sarcastic and cynical person he had ever met. Or it could have been that Akamaru, his faithful dog, had gone pee too close to him one time too many. But most likely it was a combination of all of these that contributed to his foul disposition.

"Do you think you could move any slower, Kiba?" Asuka asked. Kiba bit his tongue, resisting the urge to throw some scathing retort back, and instead slogged forward, shimmying on his belly through the thick undergrowth. He knew it would do no good to start bickering. Besides, even if he did, Asuka undoubtedly had some clever comeback prepared that he would have no hope of topping. Forty-eight hours of exchanging insults had proven that already.

"Women…" he growled softly, poking his head through the bushes. Beside him, Akamaru whined sympathetically.

"You better not have lost them." Asuka glowered at her teammate.

Again, Kiba had to fight the temptation to say something nasty, or even better, flick her in the back of the head while her she was facing away from him. It would have been juvenile and immature, but oh what vindictive satisfaction it would bring him! There was really no denying it. Asuka was a real bitch. Unfortunately, for Kiba, the red-haired archer just so happened to be very pretty, a terrible combination in the young Inuzuka's book of ideal girls. Ugly nice girls were neutral, nice pretty girls were the best, ugly mean girls were also not bad because you could make fun of them without feeling guilty, but mean pretty girls were by far the worst. You couldn't hate them because they were hot, but you couldn't like them either because they were liable to bite your balls off with, or without a reason.

Still, Kiba had decided a while ago that while Asuka's constant, insulting commentary did little for his aural welfare; his eyes would not suffer in the slightest during the mission. The tight, black outfit she wore did amazing things to her slim, athletic body, and on more than one occasion did Asuka catch him staring.

"I see them," Kiba snarled.

They'd been tracking Gato for the last six hours, no small task given the tedious nature of the assignment. In the morning, Gato left his hotel, which they had identified the day before, and led the two ninjas all over the city as he went about his business, none of which was important. He ate breakfast, met with clients, visited his three mistresses, ate lunch etc. –a monotonous routine that threatened to lull Kiba to sleep. Finally, after yet another pointless meeting, Gato had gotten into a limousine with some man. They had driven deep into the countryside, finally stopping in a remote, grassy field far removed from the city.

"I also see the fifty mercenaries he has with him," Kiba added. Sure enough, waiting for the crime lord was a giant entourage of heavily armed men. None of them looked like ninjas, though. They were probably just hired muscle that Gato's servants had recruited in town. "Something important has to be happening if there's this many."

The two men walked toward the mercenaries. The first man was their target, Gato, a short 'businessman' with frizzy white hair and bulging belly that his expensive designer suit did little too disguise.

The second man Kiba did not know. He was tall with long black hair that extended halfway down the side of his face –a face that was _gorgeous _according to Asuka's opinion. Kiba thought it was feminine looking; the kind of soft featured handsome that automatically made the owner look like a pretty boy if not downright queer. Of course, Asuka ignored his derogatory comments about the man. Never mind that he might be a terrorist or a criminal, he was _gorgeous, _and thus automatically elevated to a plain impervious to criticism.

Their mystery man wore a long black cloak that was decorated with a pattern of swirling red clouds. It seemed to be a uniform of sorts. It certainly did not appear to be the kind of attire one normally walked around in without cause anyway. People would laugh. Well, Kiba would anyway.

"He's wearing a forehead protector," Asuka whispered.

Kiba had noticed that as well and that was what had him concerned. The emblem of the Hidden Leaf Village was emblazoned on the man's protector, and a deep scratch ran through the metal plating, a testament perhaps to some battle he had survived where others had not. Kiba knew most of the ninjas in the village, and the fact that he did not recognize this one bothered him. What worried him even more than that was that Konoha had another ninja operating in Kakami, a ninja Tsunade had not bothered to tell their team about. Either this man was black-ops and running his own mission, or he wasn't working for Konoha at all.

He made a mental note to tell Instructor Kakashi about that as soon as they reported back in, but for now he returned his attention to the meeting. Gato seemed livid, jumping up and down and screaming curses at the mercenaries.

"Where are those two?" he yelled. "I told them to be here!"

"Maybe they got lost," one of the mercenaries suggested.

"Lost? Lost, captain?" Gato shouted in the face of the unfortunate man. "They're Jounin! Two very expensive Jounin! Jounin do not get lost!"

Asuka stirred beside Kiba.

"Jounin?" She whispered, the apprehension evident in her voice. "Tsunade said Chunin at most."

"Quiet down," Kiba replied. He was impressed that he managed to sound so calm. In fact, his stomach was doing cartwheels right about now, making him feel more than a little nauseated. Against Chunin, Kiba was confident he and Asuka could hold their own. But against Jounin? Jounin were the elite, the best of the best. Genin would not stand an ice cub's chance in hell against a single Jounin, never mind two.

"Why do you need Jounin bodyguards?" The man asked. His voice was calm, monotonous even. "Are you afraid of something?"

"N-no. Of course not," Gato stammered quickly. "I'm just angry that my money is being wasted on incompetent employees."

The man nodded as if in understanding, but then he said, "I'm beginning to feel my time is being wasted on incompetence. Should I grow angry?"

The fat crime lord paled visibly. "I apologize for the delay. I promise I'll make the delivery soon."

"You're running out of time, Gato." The man said quietly. "Deliver me the Kyubi alive and unharmed and you shall be paid. I do not enjoy waiting."

"And you're sure the Kyubi is inside this boy? This Naruto?" Gato asked nervously.

Kiba and Asuka inhaled sharply and exchanged alarmed glances.

These guys weren't dealing in illegal contraband the report had said. They were here after the Kyubi! And that meant they were after its container too: Uzumaki Naruto. This could not be a coincidence. They were counting on Naruto and the Kyubi inside him to be assigned to Kakami, but why? What in the world would they want to do with a dormant demonic fox and a perverted, loudmouthed, trouble making ninja?

"This is a god damn trap," Kiba whispered. "Someone wanted us to come here."

"You think this is all a set up?" Asuka wondered. "But the only people who knew about this mission was-"

Kiba shook his head. "Konoha must have a spy then. Someone either leaked the mission personnel to Gato in advance or made sure Naruto was put here."

"But who?"

That was the magic question, a question that was without an answer at the moment. There could be a hundred different people inside the Hidden Leaf Village who would abet their enemies or there might be none at all. Kiba was not knowledgeable enough about the inner workings of the village to even begin suspecting whose loyalties were suspect.

"Meet me at the bridge tomorrow morning," the man told Gato. "And make sure you have the Kyubi."

Gato bowed deeply, the top of his frizzy hair almost touching the ground. "It will be as you say."

The robed ninja turned and his gaze swept over the green countryside. Kiba stiffened as he felt the man's eyes pass over the bushes they were hiding in. "But first," the stranger said, "I believe we have some uninvited visitors ease dropping on our conversation."

Asuka and Kiba froze. They were spotted. How they had been found they had absolutely no idea, but that was unimportant right now. It was time to bail and fast. Simultaneously they exploded from their hiding place, weapons drawn and ready for battle. Asuka was armed with her bow, Kiba with his kunai, and Akamaru with his fangs.

Gato appeared absolutely dumbstruck by the sudden appearance of two Konoha ninjas and one very large wolf, a look of utter shock plastered on his fat face. He stammered for something to say, finally settling with, "Kill them!"

The mercenaries responded eagerly to their employer's command, raising their weapons with a hearty cheer and then running toward the two ninjas.

Even when faced with imminent death at the hands of a hundred angry mercenaries, Kiba somehow found the time to appreciate Asuka's talent with the bow. Her hands moved faster than his eyes could follow, stringing an arrow and releasing it with unbelievable speed. And what more her accuracy was incredible –five arrows were released in the space of a few heartbeats and five more corpses were added to the battlefield.

Another mercenary went down as an arrow took him through the heart, but it seemed for every enemy that Asuka felled from her bow's deadly precision, another two stepped forward to take their place. Kiba and Akamaru were faring little better. The duo cut a deadly swathe through Gato's forces, Kiba wielding his kunai and Akamaru his razor sharp teeth, but their best efforts still did little to stem the endless deluge of mercenaries.

Akamaru lunged forward, his fangs ripping through the throat of a mercenary who had strayed too close to the wolf, and Kiba finished the job by hurling one of his shruikens in between the man's eyes. Another of the sellswords, braver than the rest, rushed at Kiba, sword held high ready to strike. Before he could make it to the young ninja he suddenly pitched forward into the mud, one of Asuka's arrows lodged in his back.

"There's too many!" Kiba yelled as he dispatched another mercenary with a kunai across the man's throat. Akamaru growled in agreement. The wolf's sleek white fur was covered in blood and gore, and Kiba was afraid that not all of it belonged to the mercenaries. "We need to retreat!"

Asuka was too busy to even acknowledge Kiba. She ducked under a knife that would have plunged in her head, and stabbed the mercenary with the tip of an arrow. Standing back up, she then notched the same arrow and released the shaft into the face of another enemy.

"It'll be tough," she pointed out in a momentary lull in the carnage. It did not last long. In seconds, more mercenaries were pouring towards them, and Asuka returned to thinning their ranks with her rapid barrage of arrows. She fired off another shot, hitting a man in the side of the head, and reached for another arrow. Only, this time, her hand closed around air.

"I'm out!" yelled the archer. She slung her bow over her shoulder and drew a curved knife from her belt.

Kiba swore. He had to think fast. Without Asuka's bow they would not be able to hold back the mercenaries for too much longer. He hated the idea of running, but if they didn't do something fast, they would be over run. Gritting his teeth in determination, he plunged his kunai in the chest of one of Gato's thugs and leaped to where Asuka was.

"Get out of here!" he yelled to his teammate. "Me and Akamaru will hold them off!"

"What? And leave you here? Forget it!"

"One of us has to get this information back," He yelled.

"We'll do it together then! I'm not leaving you here by yourself!"

Kiba hesitated. As touching as it was that Asuka was determined to stay by his side, he did not have time to argue with her. He normally respected stubbornness because his mother claimed he was one of the most stubborn people she had the misfortune of knowing, but right now it was the last thing he needed. "Asuka, move your ass now! That's an order!"

The red haired archer glared at the wolf-trainer. Tsunade had put Kiba in charge of their two man team for the mission, and according to Konoha law she was obliged to follow his orders. She had thought Kiba was a gutless coward, the kind of guy who would never dare to exert his position in fear of what a beautiful girl like her might think of him afterwards. He was in command, true, but Asuka had never really expected him to use it.

"You better be right behind me," she snapped irritably. She loathed the prospect of leaving Kiba by himself, especially now that her respect for him had just leapt a notch. But orders were orders.

Kiba kept a careful on eye on the mercenaries. Some were pulling back, dragging their dead and wounded with them. He estimated that together the two ninjas had wiped out almost half of Gato's forces during the fierce skirmish. The odds of facing the survivors alone were still not good, but he and Akamaru would manage. They would have to.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Get going." He told her.

Asuka nodded and then vanished in a cloud of smoke. Kiba quickly reached into his pouch and unleashed a hailstorm of shruikens to cover his partner's retreat. The mercenaries scattered, too occupied with their own safety to even think of pursuing the fleeing ninja. A few were too slow in evading, and they cried out as one of his projectiles found their mark. Nervously, the young Inuzuka looked for Asuka. She was out of sight already, but he needed to buy her a little bit more time if she was to make good on her escape.

"C'mon you bastards!" Kiba yelled. "What are you waiting for?"

But none of the mercenaries responded to his boisterous challenge. They were falling back, many of them wounded from the brief but deadly battle, but stepping forward to take their place on the blood stained battlefield was none other than the man, the feminine looking stranger. He walked amongst the corpses, unfazed by the carnage, and stopped in the middle of the grassy plain.

"Only one of you?" The young Inuzuka laughed. "Don't waste our time! Right Akamaru?"

Akamaru did not seem to share his master's confidence or enthusiasm. He whined softly, his ears twitching erratically as he stared at their new opponent. This instantly put Kiba on guard. Akamaru was scared, and Kiba thought he knew why.

"His power is that high, huh?" Kiba asked quietly. The white wolf had the unique ability to detect a ninja's power levels through smell, but never had they encountered an air of strength great enough to cower Akamaru. A few of the instructors made Akamaru nervous with the intensity of the power they radiated, but none had had this kind of effect on him before.

Akamaru barked a confirmation.

"Why didn't you tell me that before?" Kiba complained.

An annoyed growl was his only answer.

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't have made a difference." The dog's master consented.

The man walked closer, his robes billowing as a cool breeze whipped through the clearing. Kiba could feel the powerful aura manifesting in the man, a presence so pronounced it might as well have been real. It was like an invisible wall surrounded the unknown ninja, a barrier of potent energy that sent an electrifying sensation through Kiba's body merely by standing within its radius. The man moved slowly towards Kiba, lethargically as if he did not have a care in the world.

"An Inuzuka clan ninja?" the man said. "Interesting."

Kiba nodded. "You're from Konoha." he stated. "What are you doing working with Gato?"

The man did not answer. He looked at Gato, a lethal gaze in his eyes, and said, "I'll deal with this Gato, but be warned. Any more interruptions and…" he left the threat incomplete; allowing Gato imagination to decide what deadly consequences may await him.

Gato nodded in hasty consent. "N-no, I mean, y-yes! Thank you!"

A small grin stretched across Kiba's mouth, his fang like teeth barred in a feral smile. So the man was not open to listening. Big surprise there. That was probably the reason why ninjas were generally poor negotiators. Most of them just wanted to kill things. War was a ninja's occupation, not peace. "We're some of the best ninjas in Konoha," he told the stranger. "You'd better not underestimate us!"

"Razor Claw technique!" Kiba yelled. On command, chakra poured into his hands and his nails began to grow at an incredible rate. Within seconds they were as long as his arm; each talon thin and as hard as metal, transforming his hands into a bristling arsenal of razor sharp knives. Grinning, he flexed his fingers, letting each of his claws resound noisily against one another in an intimidating chorus of bone clashing against bone. Beside him, Akamaru, encouraged by his master's courage, leaped back to his feet and growled menacingly at the stranger, his pointy fangs barred savagely.

"Let's go, Akamaru!" He yelled. Together they charged ahead. Akamaru attacked first, throwing his formidable bulk at the man, but the stranger quickly stepped aside and Akamaru flew by harmlessly. Kiba was right after his hound, unleashing a brutal array of lightening fast strikes with his claws. He struck again and again with a berserker's ferocity, his hands an untraceable blur of motion. Akamaru leaped forward again, his teeth targeting the man's legs. However, none of their blows connected. The robe-clad ninja moved out of harm's way, easily swaying in and out of the duo's onslaught.

With a snarled curse, Kiba ordered Akamaru to break off the attack. He was breathing heavily, the fatigue from the fighting settling into his weary body. The white wolf peered up at Kiba inquisitively, confusion evident in his hazel eyes. Countless hours of training had honed their fighting so that they moved in synch with each other, enabling them to fight as a pair in perfect harmony. In theory, the combination of Akamaru's size and Kiba's speed should have been enough to defeat most normal ninjas. This man, however, apparently was anything but normal.

"The standard has sure fallen for a Konoha ninja if this is the best it has to offer," the man remarked scornfully.

Kiba could not think of anything to say. For the first time he felt genuinely afraid. Even though he and Akamaru had been fighting for the last ten minutes, never had Kiba actually felt like their lives were in any real danger. The mercenaries, while many in number, were nothing compared to the skill of a ninja. But this man, this stranger, was completely different. He outclassed them so greatly Kiba could seldom comprehend it. The two had just thrown some of their best techniques at the ninja and had absolutely nothing to show for it.

_He's not a Jounin, _Kiba realized fearfully, cold sweat pouring down his brow. _Jounin aren't even this good… _

"Why do you want Naruto?" he asked. "What are you going to do with him?" Again, he was surprised by how steady his voice sounded, devoid of the icy fear that coursed through his veins. He was terrified of the man's power, but he would not show it. He was Inuzuka Kiba, a Konoha ninja, and if he was going to die here he would do so in a manner that would make his friends proud.

The man paused. When he spoke, his cold, emotionless voice managed to sound pleasantly surprised. "You're a friend of the Kyubi? Good, that will make this easier."

"You want me to use him as bait?" Gato asked, realizing his client's idea. "Are you sure that's a-"

"Proceed as planned, Gato." The ninja interrupted. "Keep this one alive. The Kyubi will no doubt try to rescue him. I'll be waiting when he does."

Kiba glared at the two men. "Now wait a second, what makes you think I'm going-"

But he never finished his sentence. One second the robe-clad ninja was speaking with Gato, and the next he was gone. Something hard hit Kiba in the back of the head, and before he even realized it, he felt himself falling. He tried to stop himself, but his hands and legs would not respond. The ground rushed up to meet him, and a jarring sensation rocked his body as his head hit the floor.

And then everything went dark.

----------------------  
Author's Notes:

Wow. This chapter really didn't turn out the way I wanted. I planned on elaborating on some sequences, drawing out some of the action and such, but my writer's block was so bad everything I typed just sounded stupid. Ultimately, I decided to cut my losses and just post it. Sorry. I'm in a bit of a slump right now. Hopefully I'll get back in the groove of things by next chapter.

Kiba's partner, Asuka's, personality and appearance mirrors the Asuka from Evangelion –another one of my favorite anime. She's won't be a big character in A Ninja's Guide, but the guy-girl ratio in Naruto is too heavily in favor of the guys and I needed to balance it some. Reviews are always appreciated! With your help, this story has hit a super sweet ten reviews per chapter –my goal since I started writing this. You guys are awesome!

Oh, and feedback time. Which do you prefer? More light hearted humorous storyline, or serious, action driven plot?

With Kiba captured, Asuka injured, and Sasuke and Sakura undercover with Haku, things definitely do not look good for Konoha's away team. To make matters worst, what happens when it turns out there are even _more _renegade ninjas running around Kakami, including one that seems to have some really big grudge against Kakashi? Will the other ninjas rush to the rescue? Will I ever remain true to my teasers and actually write what I put in them? Find out in **Chapter Thirteen: More Ninja Masks than a Masquerade!**


	13. Chapter 13

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I had a dream that I owned Naruto…and then the zombies ate me. Damn zombies. Ninja's Guide is mine so don't repost it please. Thanks.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirteen: More Ninja Masks than a Masquerade**

Tenten did not normally consider herself a particularly skeptical person. She liked to think that she was person who trusted others unless evidence persuaded her otherwise. The problem was that her present skepticism _was _founded on evidence, evidence that had little trouble in persuading her that her doubt was entirely justified. Now the problem was not a matter of whether or not her reservations were correct or not, but more who the subject of said cynicism was, and this subsequently lead to yet another complication in the Tenten's progressively growing causal chain of problems.

She did not trust Hatake Kakashi. That was the first problem. The second was that he was in charge of the mission, and short of sneaking up and murdering the masked ninja, that complication would unfortunately remain unresolved. It was not that she disliked Kakashi. He was a great teacher and a nice guy. But he hardly seemed the type to be participating on missions let alone _leading _six Genin on an important B-Rank one. For starters, the man was so careless in his approach to leadership it denied any assumption that he might actually be any good at it.

Since she and Neji had arrived at the safe house, Kakashi had not stirred from his spot on the moldy sofa, his head glued into that pink novel he always carried around. The provocative pose that the protagonist assumed on the book's cover did not escape Tenten's notice, nor did the glaring yellow label that declared the book "not appropriate for the ninja under eighteen." Perhaps she could forgive the perverted connotation that the book associated to, graciously excusing it as an eccentric quirk that all instructors seemed to possess, but his utter apathy to their team's objectives and missions could not be overlooked.

Kakashi just did not seem to care. He hardly looked up when Naruto and Hinata entered the house shortly after Neji and Tenten did, not even bothering to check if they were enemy ninjas in disguise, nor had he even begun unpacking the boxes of mission critical equipment Tsunade had sent with him. In addition, the white-haired ninja was absolutely oblivious to the fact that Sasuke and Sakura were over an hour late for the briefing.

Tenten frowned. Her critical opinion about their instructor was tempered by the knowledge that he _had _been ANBU several years ago, and that he _was _a Jounin. But his current, inexcusable behavior did not seem at all in keeping with the stories of the expert tactician and fearless war hero that people talked about. If the stories of his courage and brilliance were true, then it could only mean that today's Kakashi was only a pale shadow of his former greatness. What once was one of the Hidden Leaf's finest ninjas was no more than lazy pervert, lying on the sofa and laughing stupidly at some stupid punch line derived from an erotic novel. Could this really be the same legendary Kakashi that was so lauded in Konoha lore?

"Oh, Hiro, you're so naughty," Kakashi chuckled to himself.

Apparently not.

"Instructor Kakashi?" Naruto asked. He was sitting against a wall beside Hinata. Both had changed into their normal clothing and their formal attire was now hanging in the other room to dry. "Shouldn't we be looking for Sasuke and Sakura?"

Kakashi peered over the novel, looking at his student with his one visible eye. "They're probably doing some early reconnaissance."

Neji, who was leaning casually on the boarded up window on the other side of the safe house, said, "Then shouldn't we also be doing the same?"

The silver-haired Jounin shook his head. Going back to his reading, he explained, "We wait for Kiba and Asuka to report in and we'll make our plans accordingly. Spreading our forces right now would not be wise until we have a better idea of what we're facing."

"B-but, Instructor Kakashi," Hinata protested. "What if Sasuke and Sakura are in trouble? Shouldn't we be looking to help them?"

Kakashi sighed. "You kids worry too much."

Tenten scowled. "I don't think you worry enough, Instructor."

The Jounin did not look disturbed by his student's apparent disapproval in his orders. In fact, he was once again so absorbed in his novel that Tenten was not even sure he had heard her.

Naruto stood up and began pacing back and forth across the room. He looked restless, but that was only characteristic of Naruto. If he didn't have something to do, he would find something to do, normally at the detriment of everyone around him. Guys like Neji could stand still like a statue for hours on end without batting an eye, but asking Naruto to be patient for even five minutes was pushing it. Tenten vaguely wondered how much longer it would be until Naruto knocked down the boarded up window and started throwing things at pedestrians outside. It certainly would not be the first time something like that had happened.

"This is a B-Rank mission," Naruto complained, "We should be doing something!"

"We are doing something, Naruto," Kakashi murmured from behind the book. "We're waiting."

"I-I agree with Naruto," Hinata whispered timidly. "I don't think we should be waiting when our friends may need help."

Tenten nodded. "I'm with Hinata on this one, Instructor. What about you, Neji?" Neji kind of shrugged, which Tenten interpreted as a yes.

"So we all think we should deploy," Naruto declared, crossing his arms. "What do you think about that, Instructor Kakashi?"

The book lowered once again, and Naruto's bravado faltered as Kakashi looked up at his students. Had they finally pushed the white-haired teacher's patience too far? But then Kakashi smiled and pleasantly said, "Well we should be all grateful that this isn't a democracy then, right?"

The troublemaking ninja frowned, hesitant to continue in case he ticked Kakashi off. Getting a Thousand-Years-of-Pain up his butt was not exactly what he wanted at the moment, particularly not in front of Tenten and Hinata. Fortunately, Tenten jumped in to support him.

"We can't just leave them out there. Kiba and Asuka's report is late and so is Sasuke and Sakura's. I think at least one team should go out and investigate." She told Kakashi.

"Are you volunteering your team, Tenten?" The Jounin asked.

"Yes, I am." Tenten replied without hesitation.

Kakashi nodded pensively as if some revelation had just dawned on him. "Huh," he said quietly, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Then louder, he added, "Request denied. I need all personnel here if we need to move in force. We already have two scouting teams in place; one more would be a waste of resources."

He yawned and sat up, swinging his legs around and planting his feet on the ground. "Why don't you guys get some sleep? No telling when we'll get a chance to rest again."

"I'm not tired," replied Naruto. The rest of the ninjas echoed his sentiments.

"Suit yourselves," said Kakashi, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. He snapped his paperback close, stowed it away in his vest, and then with a languid yawn, laid his head against the sofa's armrest. "Wake me up if something important happens."

"Instructor Kakashi!" All the ninjas screamed in unison. Well, all the ninjas except for Neji who had not said much of anything since arriving. Composed and silent as always, he appeared rather impartial to his classmates' efforts to crucify their instructor, much to Tenten's resentment. They were supposed to be a team, especially when dissenting against established authority!

"What?" groaned Kakashi.

"You're a Jounin! You should act like one!" Naruto yelled angrily.

The white-haired Jounin's eye cracked open and glared at the troublemaking ninja peevishly. "What do you want me to do? Run around the city and start flipping out all over the place? Maybe cut some people's heads off while I'm at it?"

Hinata raised her hand, as if waiting for her teacher to call on her in the classroom, and stammered, "I-I don't think that's what Naruto meant. I think we're all just worried about-"

"Don't try to apologize for us, Hinata." protested Tenten. "We're all together on this one, right, Neji?"

Neji did not answer. It took a moment for Tenten to realize he had followed Kakashi's advice and had fallen asleep. How he managed to do that while standing was beyond her.

"Well, all of us except for Neji," the brunette markswoman corrected herself, casting a nasty look at her sleeping partner.

"Can I push him over?" Naruto asked Hinata. The blue-haired ninja shook her head, and much to Tenten's surprise, he actually listened to her.

Was it Tenten's imagination, or were Hinata and Naruto friendlier than they had been before the mission? A week ago Hinata wouldn't even dare speak to Naruto, and now they were sitting next to each other, joking and laughing. It was amazing what a few days did to relationships. It was a shame _her _crush –Tenten took the opportunity to throw another scathing glance at Neji –was currently asleep.

Kakashi sighed and closed his eye again. "Well if you're all quite done I'm going back to-"

Just then the door exploded, and a red-haired girl clad in black leather burst into the room. Her hair was drenched in sweat, matted to her skull, and she was holding her side, a grimace of pain on her face. Blood soaked her shirt, dripping down her leg and forming a crimson trail behind her.

"Asuka!" Tenten screamed. She raced over to her friend and supported her. A large cut stretched across her back and along her abdomen, but the archer still seemed coherent enough despite the massive amount of blood she must have lost. "Help me move her to the couch." Quickly, Naruto and Hinata ran to Tenten's assistance.

"I'm never going to get back to sleep." The Jounin muttered wearily, rolling off the dilapidated sofa so that they could lay the wounded ninja on it.

"Hinata, get some hot water," Tenten ordered. She drew a knife from her belt and began cutting away at Asuka's shirt while Hinata disappeared into the kitchen. Naruto peered a little closer, interestedly noticing just how much of Asuka's outfit was ending up on the floor. Tenten must have spied him trying to steal a peak, because she suddenly punched him in the face. It was not a hard punch -Naruto had received far worst from Sakura- but it was enough to knock him backwards. Thankfully, Kakashi caught the blonde haired ninja before he hit the ground.

"All boys get out!" the brunette shrieked at the assembled trio. While Hinata began bandaging the wounded Asuka, Tenten bossily shoved the boys into the next room and loudly slammed the door shut.

"What the hell just happened?" the blonde, spiky-haired ninja wondered.

"Girls," Neji muttered.

The boys looked at their teacher. He was sitting on a nearby wooden stool, his masked nose once again buried in the pink novel. He giggled something that sounded like, "Scandalous!" and then subsided into silence, once again thoroughly engrossed in his own private world of perverted erotic literature.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "You're so gross, Instructor Kakashi."

* * *

"Still not talking to me?" Uchiha Sasuke asked. He was sitting on one of the room's small beds clad only in a pair of trousers with water still dripping from his damp hair. He looked at Sakura who was sitting on the bed opposite of his, determinedly staring up at the ceiling to avoid his gaze. She had been like that since they had left the casino over three hours ago and relocated to a new hotel that Haku had lead them to. The eerie quiet that filled the room was unsettling. Usually the pink-haired ninja never left Sasuke alone, obsessing over him like a lost puppy in search of a loving master, and this stony silent treatment was definitely something new.

Sakura snorted and crossed her arms across he chest defiantly. Since they arrived, at Haku's urging, both had decided to shower and change out of their wet clothes, and now Sakura was clad in a simple villager's tunic and leggings.

"I said I was sorry about not telling you my complete plan, honey," Sasuke continued when Sakura refused to respond. "So what's the problem?"

Sakura's eyebrow twitched and once again that murderous desire to punch something arose within the female ninja. The wall, the lamp, Sasuke's gorgeous face –she needed something to serve as an outlet for her scarcely restrained rage. The audacity of that bastard to even ask her what was _her _problem! Had he not just gambled her virginity to a lecherous creep? Had he not just _used _not only her body but also her loyalty to him? Had that selfish asshole even considered her feelings before plunging into this cesspool of stupidity?

If there was one word that could sum up her feelings at the moment, it would be _enough. _She had had enough of his bullshit pure and simple. She still loved Sasuke with all her heart, but right now her amorous affection for the Uchiha was being held in check by her overwhelming anger towards him.

She looked around the room. Ninja training told her it was probably wired with hidden microphones that were ease dropping on their conversation, so she chose her next words very, very carefully.

"My problem with you, _dear_…" Sakura said slowly, venomous acid dripping from every word. "Is that you are an arrogant, egocentric, heartless, irresponsible, bigheaded prick."

Sasuke blinked with his mouth open ajar, stunned at the vicious, acrimoniousness of Sakura's tirade. Sakura was also a little surprised at her own daring, but she pressed on before her brazen courage failed her.

"I don't care who you are or who you think you might be," She snarled angrily. "Like it or not I'm your god damn partner. If you do something so stupid again without my permission and I swear I will hurt you so bad that it'll make the beating I gave Naruto look like a love tap."

Sasuke did not say anything at first. Unable to meet Sakura's intense glare, he stared at the floor, his hands folded in his lap as the silence in the room dragged on. For the first time Sakura saw perhaps what Sasuke was really like. His mask of arrogance, pride, and narcissism had crumbled under the fury of Sakura's verbal assaults, leaving a deflated shadow of the smug Uchiha Sasuke. Gone were the boastful jibes and the feeling of omnipotence, the smirks and the condescending scowls. They were replaced with something that Sasuke had seldom experienced before: humility.

She watched Sasuke. Without the holier-than-thou attitude he proudly wore like a ninja wore his forehead protector, Sasuke seemed almost human. On the outside he could be a real jerk sometimes, but deep down on the inside, there was a person who genuinely cared about his friends.

"I see," Sasuke said. He reached for the shirt Haku had provided and pulled it over his head. "It's a shame that's the way you feel."

Sakura's eyes narrowed and the flicker of hope extinguished in a painful gust of reality. Nothing had changed in Sasuke. He really was just an asshole.

"Yeah, isn't it?" Sakura shot back. The real catastrophe in this terrible tragedy, of course, was that even though she harbored these pessimistic thoughts, she still loved for some unclear reason. He was a jerk and she loved him. He mistreated her and she loved him. Maybe she was just a masochist, thriving on the pain he caused her. What a sick thought.

The door to the room opened, and Haku walked in. She too had changed out of her dress and into a pair of green and white robes. She was also wearing a forehead protector, and the metal plating bore the insignia of a ninja from the Hidden Village of the…

"Mist…" Sasuke whispered under his breath.

The pretty ninja smiled warmly at the two Konoha ninjas. "I trust the clothes suit your needs."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, thank you, Ms. Haku. You are very generous."

"Think nothing of it," Haku replied. "I do apologize for this wait, but please, let me know if I can make your stay more comfortable."

Sasuke rose from his bed. "You can tell us what exactly we're waiting for. I thought we were going to meet Gato."

"You will in due time," Haku assured her guests. "But we're waiting for my master first."

"Your master?" inquired Sakura in alarm. Calculating from Haku's impressive feat of assassinating Tonka only hours before, Sakura estimated that their host was at least a Chunin ranked ninja. If she had a master or a mentor, then he would undoubtedly be a Jounin and that would be unquestionably bad.

Haku's smile grew larger as if the mere topic of her master was enough to inspire great gladness. "Yes, he should be here any mom –in fact I do believe that is him now." She rushed to the door and opened it, and in stepped one of the most impressive looking men Sakura had ever seen.

He towered over the rest of the room's occupants by several heads, and every inch of his tanned skin rippled with muscles. The bottom half of his face was hidden beneath a mess of bandages, and Sakura would have been vaguely established a similarity between Haku's master and Instructor Kakashi if it were not for one small fact.

The man looked like he was about ready to kill all of them.

His brown eyes glistened with lethal intent as they surveyed Sakura and Sasuke with obvious disapproval. They were the eyes of a killer, the hardened eyes of a man who killed people and enjoyed doing it. Maybe Sakura was being excessively paranoid, but the giant sword sheathed across Haku's master's back did little to assuage her worry. In addition, wrapped lopsided around the man's short, spiky-brown hair was a black, forehead protector like Haku's, clearly signifying him as a ninja from the Hidden Mist Village, and thus automatically a source of great apprehension.

"Mr. and Mrs. Chichiro," Haku said. "Meet my master, Momochi Zabuza."

Sasuke offered a hand. "It's a pleasure."

Zabuza gave Sasuke a look that clearly said touch-me-and-I-will-kill-you. Or at least that was what Sakura thought it said, and Sasuke apparently agreed because he quickly withdrew his hand and did not press the matter.

"Now, Zabuza, sir, let's be polite." Haku encouraged her mentor cheerfully. Zabuza's response was a different sort of glare that said you-have-to-be-freaking-kidding-me-right?

Sakura wondered if Zabuza spoke, or could speak for that matter. Maybe that was why he had all those bandages around his mouth. Either that or he was just another one of those enigmatic weirdoes like Instructor Kakashi who elected to hide their mouths for unknown reasons. Birth deformities were the popular opinion, but until someone did something about it, the mysterious association of masked men's faces would remain hidden.

Just looking at the fearsome monster of a man, Sakura thought it probably would be infinitely safer to attempt to remove Instructor Kakashi's mask than Zabuza's. Not even a suicidal fool with a death wish would probably try something so stupid. There had to be less painful ways to die, particularly since Zabuza looked like he ate little children for breakfast. Who knew? Maybe he ate grownups for dinner.

Suddenly, Zabuza sneezed. Haku looked at him curiously for a moment but then returned her attention to her guests.

"We'll be meeting Mr. Gato in the morning at a bridge east of town." Haku announced. "In the meantime, feel free to roam the hotel, but while you are our guests here, I must implore you to not try to leave."

Sasuke stiffened. "You mean we're prisoners, here, right?"

Haku's smile never wavered. "We just enjoy your company. That is all Mr. Chichiro. You may explore the inside of the hotel to your likings, but if I may make a suggestion, I would highly recommend getting some rest, though."

Slowly, the duo retreated from the room. Right before the door closed, Haku's parting words slipped through the threshold.

"You'll need it."

* * *

A few hours later, Tenten and Hinata had managed to tend to Asuka's wounds, and the boys were released from their temporary prison. The red-haired archer was now sitting on Kakashi's sofa, her torso heavily wrapped in clean bandages, while their Instructor debriefed her. The rest of the ninjas were gathered around, either leaning against the wall like Neji or sitting on the ground.

"So they'll be waiting for us at the bridge with Kiba." Kakashi said, writing down the information on a notepad. "One last question. What were they trading in? You told me it wasn't weapons or stolen goods. Any idea what they were dealing in?"

Asuka hesitated for a long moment. She bit her lip, thinking of a sensitive way to break the news, but when her creativity failed her she merely pointed at Naruto. "They're after you. They're after Naruto."

"What?" demanded Kakashi. "Naruto? Are you sure?"

Asuka nodded. "Positive. I heard Gato say Naruto's name aloud. They're after Naruto and the-"

"But why would they want Naruto?" Hinata interrupted. She glanced questioningly at her friend. "Why are they after you, Naruto?"

Naruto was uncharacteristically quiet. Without a clever retort or arrogant boast brimming on the edge of his lips, he suddenly seemed cold and lifeless, void of the energetic persona that defined his identity. Silence was never a word associated with the ninja branded "Konoha's Number One Troublemaker," and for him not to be yelling or screaming was unsettling because it could mean only one thing. Something was terribly wrong. Naruto was never serious otherwise. He looked at his team mates, his azure eyes meeting theirs before speaking.

"They're not after me. They're after the Kyubi."

Kakashi looked startled. The relationship between Naruto and the Kyubi was supposed to have been a tightly kept secret to shield the boy from the horrible truth, and according to Tsunade, Naruto was still none the wiser. However, that was obviously no longer the case. "You know about the Kyubi, Naruto?" He asked calmly.

Naruto nodded; his face stern. Such a grave look seemed terribly out of place on a face usually graced with a beaming smile. A chill ran down Hinata's spine just looking at him, seeing little of the Naruto she loved in the man currently standing there. "Yeah, I know."

"How long have you known for?"

"Since I was five years old." Naruto answered. "Since I was old enough to realize that the villagers were afraid of me. I wanted to know why so I started asking questions. It didn't take too long to get the full story. People in Konoha aren't that great at keeping secrets."

"Naruto…" Hinata whispered. She wanted to say something to comfort her friend as he revisited memories that were undoubtedly painful. She remembered those days. Her father had forbidden her to talk with Naruto, the scars of the Kyubi's rampage still fresh on the Hidden Leaf Village as they tried to recoup from the loss of their Hokage. And Hinata had obeyed, never daring to talk to the container of the fearsome beast until several years had past. In some small way, she too had contributed to the pain that Konoha had inflicted on Naruto.

The blonde-haired ninja smiled at Hinata. "I'm not bitter, Hinata." He assured her. "As I learned more about the Kyubi I began to understand their hatred. It was something I just learned to deal with."

Kakashi nodded. He was not sure whether or not he should been impressed or concerned by Naruto's unprecedented amount of knowledge about the demonic fox manifesting inside the boy. Tsunade had underestimated Naruto if she believed he would remain blissfully ignorant of the symbiotic relationship he shared with the Kyubi for this long. Everyone else knew; it only made sense he would know too sooner or later. In that way, the Fourth Hokage's dream, his vision of a world where Naruto could grow up normally, was never meant to be.

"Then you also know of the Kyubi's power," Kakashi continued, "And how you unconsciously benefit from it."

"You mean like the supernatural healing?" Naruto responded. He scratched the back of his head embarrassedly. "The last time the Kyubi lent me his power was when Sakura punched me out. She would've killed me if that stupid fox hadn't helped me out."

So the fox lent Naruto his power, Kakashi realized. It was interesting that such an evil creature would share anything with anyone, but then again, the Kyubi was not stupid. If Naruto died, then it would die too. Allowing Naruto use into its own chakra in times of danger was nothing more than an egocentric act of self preservation. So far, the Kyubi had limited its involvement to healing the boy when he was mortally injured, but the white haired Jounin wondered how long it would be before Naruto began tapping into its true potential.

"So what are we going to do?" Neji asked.

Kakashi stood up and stared down at his subordinates. When he spoke, his voice was serious and authoritative; not at all like the indolent tone he had been using before.

"Tomorrow morning we out in force," he said. "Kiba will be at the bridge. And that's where we'll be too."

"But Instructor Kakashi," Tenten said. "There's no guarantee Gato will be at the bridge too. Our mission is to capture Gato, so shouldn't we make sure he's actually going to be there before we attack?"

There was strong reasoning behind the markswoman's argument. If they rushed into action to save Kiba, there was a good chance Gato would escape from Kakami amidst the commotion. But if they looked for Gato instead, then Kiba would surely die when no one was waiting at the bridge. It was impossible to divide their forces and task one team to the bridge and another to find Gato; they would need a concentrated effort if they hoped to prevail against enemies of the caliber Asuka described. Two Jounin was no laughing, and the third party, the unknown ninja, was not to be underestimated.

Their objective was to capture Gato, but at what cost? Would the blood of one of their own pay for the apprehension of the crime syndicate leader?

Hinata was up on her feet in an instant, her hands balled into tiny fists. "We can't just leave Kiba by himself!" she yelled angrily.

Neji stepped forward and placed a placating hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Hinata, the mission comes first."

"Like hell it does!" Naruto stormed as he leaped to Hinata's defense "The Hokage could send a dozen Jounin if she wanted Gato that badly. Right now we should be worrying about getting our own friends back alive."

Hinata beamed at her friend admirably. Neji, on the other hand, glared icily at Naruto.

"We were assigned a job for a reason, Naruto. It's our duty as Konoha ninjas to fulfill it no matter what the cost. Kiba knew what he was getting into when he accepted a B-Rank mission." The long-haired ninja explained patiently.

"I'm the reason that Kiba's in trouble in the first place," shouted Naruto. "Gato wants me, right?"

"Naruto, none of this is your fault." Kakashi explained softly.

"I don't care!" snapped Naruto. "This isn't about me or the Kyubi or the mission. This is about our friend! I don't know about you guys, but someone who abandons their allies," he shook his head, scowling darkly. "Are trash."

His words seemed to silence the dissenters. Even Neji did not have any rebuttal. They might not like each other all the time; they might not even all be friends. But they were from Konoha and Konoha ninjas always looked after their own. They would break violate the parameters of the mission, they would go to their death in combat, but they would not abandon their fellow ninja for a pointless cause like a thug named Gato.

That was their way of the ninja.

_Those who do not care about their companions are worse than trash. _

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. _Your foolishness lives on, Obito, _he thought.

_Thank you._

* * *

Author's Notes  
I'm actually pretty pleased with how this chapter turned out. I wish I could fix up the last part a little bit more, though. I'm a tough bugger to please. I made this chapter a bit more lighthearted than some of the previous ones –I thought a Ninja's Guide was diverting too much into serious-land and it's way too early to go that way. I want this story to have action and romance sure, but also some chuckles along the way as well. 

Not too much else to comment on. I went to an anime convention this weekend. It was alright. I was hoping for some more fan made stuff, but the cosplayers are always neat. I spotted a super fat Darth Vader walking around, a cardboard Gundam, and a female Itachi. Girls who dress up as guy characters are automatically cooler than guys who dress up as guys or guys who dress up as girls.

Thanks for the reviews folks! They're always quite helpful! Hopefully before long I'll have some neat-o fan art to award consistent reviewers. More on that hopefully by the time the next chapter is out. It's looking pretty sweet right now though.

Clash of the ninjas! It's like pay-per-view wrestling only with less sweaty, steroid pumped guys in their undies and more ninjas and ass kicking! Haku and Zabuza vs. Team Konoha. You know it's going to get messy, but just how messy? I'm guessing pretty messy though, but I'm usually wrong about these sorts of things. **Find out in Chapter Fourteen: It's Killing Time!**


	14. Chapter 14 OMAKE

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Nope. Don't own Naruto. Poop. Do own this. Yay. Fragmented sentences are cool.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**IMPORANT AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**I'm taking a break from the regular storyline of a Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School and instead writing a short filler if you will (you know, those retarded things that keep the anime from moving on to the next story arc?) about Naruto and company's regular school life. Take note, the filler takes place before the first chapter. Comments, critiques, praises etc are always very welcome. Think I should continue with the filler or should I abandon the idea?

**Chapter Fourteen: A Ninja's Guide to Sex Ed (FILLER)  
****Part I: Day One**

The day started like any other in the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha. The sun rose to its apex in the mid-afternoon sky, casting its rays on the people on Konoha as they busied themselves with their various routines. The villagers were in their fields, tending to their livestock or fields, or hard at work plying their trade in one of the many merchant kiosks that littered the ninja village. The ninjas in Konoha were equally as occupied. Konoha High, the official ninja training academy, was in full swing, its classrooms packed with ninjas cramming for their upcoming semester finals, and the certified Chunin and Jounin were no less busy as they prepared to embark on important missions. There was nothing in particular to discriminate this day from the rest, no distinguishing omen that would make anyone take note of its importance.

But high above the village, deep within the stone chambers of the Fifth Hokage's office, a meeting of great significance was being held. In the next few minutes, a decision of unparalleled magnitude would be made, a decision that had the potential to permanently alter the future of Konoha. All the senior instructors in charge of teaching the Genin had been summoned for the meeting. They were some of the finest ninjas in Konoha, men and women who had proved their bravery and skill time and again, and they were present because their counsel was invaluable to the Hokage. The instructors stood in a semi circle around the Fifth Hokage's desk at rigid attention, looks of grim severity on their faces.

"You want us to teach sex education to the seniors?" asked Umino Iruka, looking at the Hokage with something akin to wry skepticism on his scarred face. A tall Chunin with brown hair tied in top knot, Iruka was the head of Konoha's elementary school.

The busty, blonde-haired Tsunade nodded her head vigorously. "That is correct Instructor Iruka. I believe that it is of vital importance to ensure that the future ninjas of Konoha are properly educated in this matter."

"But why?" was Iruka's next question, his cynicism not belayed by Tsunade's explanation. "Most of the seniors are already seventeen years old. Isn't it a little late to be teaching them about sex?"

"Better late than never," Tsunade replied. She thought this sounded exceptionally profound. In truth, she had read it from a fortune cookie during lunch, but that was something her teachers did not need to know. The Hokage rose from her desk and paced back and forth behind it. "Imagine this if you will, Instructor Iruka. One day your students are on their first mission and an enemy ninja attempts to seduce them. What will they do?"

She let the question hang in the air. When no one readily answered, she slammed her hand on the desk. "They will be unprepared to counteract such seduction! They will be a prisoner to their hormones and be defeated! And that I can not allow!"

"Say we do teach the seniors sex ed," Sarutobi Asuma commented between the burning cigarette clenched in between his teeth. "Do you think they'll really take us seriously?"

The Hokage shrugged. "Of course they will. You are highly experienced, highly trained ninjas. Why wouldn't they listen to you?"

Hatake Kakashi snorted, earning him the second deadly glare from the Hokage that day. The first was for showing up an hour late for the meeting. Most men would find Tsunade's fearsome glare intimidating if not terrifying, but the silver haired Jounin seemed unperturbed by her murderous glower.

"Hokage," he said, "In case you haven't noticed, all of us are single."

Tsunade frowned. "You mean to say none of you have ever had sex before?"

Her question was meant with a prolonged silence. Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai exchanged embarrassed glances. Iruka blushed and scratched his head shyly. Tsunade's assistant and head medic, Shizune, looked away, and the normally shameless Mitarashi Anko could not meet the Hokage's piercing stare. Only Kakashi did not react visibly to Tsunade inquiry, partially because his face had disappeared behind that stupid, pink book he carried around.

"That's what I thought," Tsunade declared triumphantly.

"B-but," Iruka objected, "what if we find that our experience in the subject is…" he thought hard for a long moment, trying to find the right word to fill the blank. He finally settled with, "Limited?"

Almost instantly he regretted his choice of diction for the Hokage's office suddenly exploded in a deafening chorus of hysterical laughter. Asuma roared heartily and slapped his comrade on the shoulder. "You mean to say you've never gotten any action?"

"N-no, of course I have!" protested Iruka.

"I bet he's still a virgin," teased the purple-haired Anko.

"I'm not!" yelled the Chunin, but his denials were drowned out by his fellow instructors' raucous laughter.

"Maybe we should let Iruka teach the lesson on masturbation," quipped a Jounin wearing a bandana and dark sunglasses. "I bet he's an expert at that!"

Iruka's face was a brilliant shade of scarlet. Whether it was from embarrassment or rage no one knew…or cared really. "Shut up, Ebisu!"

It took another several good minutes for Tsunade to regain order, though admittedly, her lack of effort might have contributed some to that. Her wooden desk was cracked from where she had been beating her fist on it in fits of unbridled laughter, and never had her ribs ached so. "Alright, alright, stop teasing…" she wheezed in between chuckles.

"Yeah, stop teasing the virgin!" cried Kurenai.

It took another minute to recover from that one, and by then, tears were streaming from Tsunade's eyes. Chuckling, she wiped them away on the back of her sleeve. "Seriously now, Instructor Iruka, what do you think?"

Iruka, still miffed at the incessant harassment at the hands of his fellow instructors, refused to answer and angry folded his arms across his chest.

"Teach a bunch of angst ridden, hormone driven adolescents about sex?" asked Kakashi, raising an eyebrow. "This has to the worst idea of yours since you had the entire village hunt for the perfect recipe for maple syrup."

"What was wrong with that one?" demanded Tsunade. "Konoha now makes the finest pancakes in the world. Our economy is thriving as a result."

"Waffles are better," chimed Shizune. The rest of her teachers looked at her oddly. "What?" she said. "They are!"

"French toast is clearly better," argued Asuma.

Shizune looked scandalized as if Asuma had said mortally offending. Her hand slowly crept to the kunai holster strapped on her leg. "Take that back!" she roared.

"That's enough! No one is going to kill someone over French toast or waffles or pancakes or whatever. Not in my office anyway!" Tsunade shouted. Once she was sure Shizune was not about to stab Asuma over his blasphemous transgressions towards the superiority of waffles, the Hokage continued.

"Now, I'm trusting all of you to do your best with such a sensitive topic. I suggest you think long and hard about your lesson, but I'm confident each of you will find your own unique approach."

The instructors nodded, some reluctantly. Kakashi did have a point, Tsunade had to begrudgingly admit. Teenagers were troublesome; ninja teenagers even more so. How they would react to a crash course in the fundamentals of sex education would be interesting to say the very least. Ideally they would handle the subject with an adult's maturity, but a more likely scenario involved widespread hysteria and more drama than an episode of the televised soap opera, Ninja Idol.

High school was so awesome that way.

"You begin tomorrow!" Tsunade bellowed. "Dismissed!"

The teachers filed out one by one until the Hokage's office was empty. With a weary sigh, Tsunade looked out the window. Crossing the sky was a yellow bird, its cheerful song filling the peaceful air as it flew through the clouds. She smiled as she watched the small bird's progress.

Suddenly, an ugly, mean looking bird swooped down from nowhere, and the beautiful singing was shattered in an ear splitting screech as the yellow bird disappeared into the massive jaws of the larger, predatory beast. And then there was silence. Tsunade blinked. A bloody feather, all that remained of the unfortunate, now devoured, bird, slowly floated down to the ground below.

_Well that can't be good…_she thought.

* * *

**DAY ONE**

The day of school at Konoha High started like any other. The bell rang; the senior class filed into their respective classrooms and sat down to wait for their instructor. Some days they would only wait for a few seconds, but on days when their first class was Advanced Chakra Control with Instructor Kakashi, they could expect to idle around for anywhere from a half hour to forty-five minutes before the silver-haired Jounin showed up with some pathetic story to excuse his tardiness. On such days such as that, the students would study, read comic books, copy each others homework and so on. The smokers would crack open a window and the lovers would go make out in the back of the room. Others just took the opportunity to just relax like Uchiha Sasuke. Or at least that was what he was trying to do. The pink-haired female ninja, Haruno Sakura, was not being very accommodating that way, continuing with her consistent prattle regardless of whether or not Sasuke was actually listening.

"Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Sakura, why do you call me Sasuke-kun?"

"Because we're friends, Sasuke-kun," Sakura explained.

"I know that, Sakura," Sasuke said patiently. "I've known you for like thirteen years now. It's pretty obvious we're friends so why the added endearment every single time you call my name? Isn't it a little redundant?"

"No, well, yes, maybe…" she shrugged. "I don't know. Should I call you 'my friend, Sasuke' or 'Sasuke, my friend,' whenever I address you then instead of 'Sasuke-kun'?"

Sasuke sighed in resignation. He sometimes wished a giant weight would fall from the sky and crush him flat, anything to save him from such mundane conversation. He liked Sakura in a sort of, quasi-platonic fashion, but sometimes the pink-haired ninja grinded his nerves with her incessant talking and fan-girlish mannerism. In all modesty, Sasuke knew he was like a miniature god to the girls of Konoha high. He never asked to be. That was just the way it was, but his legion of worshippers got damn annoying after about five seconds.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sakura. What normal person here actually utilizes suffixes in names anyway?"

The door to the classroom was suddenly thrown open, and in sped a certain blonde-haired ninja wearing an orange tracksuit. He leaped over the first row of desks, somersaulted in the air, and landed on Sakura's desk. Sakura shrieked in surprise and promptly decked the ninja, knocking him back on the ground.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined. "Why did you do that?"

Sakura gasped and pointed at Naruto. "See? He used a suffix too!"

"What?" Naruto asked, wondering what the hell was going on. He spotted Sasuke sitting at the desk beside Sakura. As usual, he was in that too-cool-for-you pose that Naruto suspected the young Uchiha practiced in front of a mirror for hours. "Oh, it's Sasuke-teme."

"God I hate you people," Sasuke muttered.

"So where is the instructor anyway?" Naruto wondered as he sat down next to Sasuke. He was late as always, but this time there was no instructor waiting to give him a tardy. What class this was he was unsure of. He had long since lost his schedule. All he knew was that he was in the same classes as Sakura on Tuesdays so he stuck to stalking her around campus much to the pink-haired ninja's frustration.

Sakura was unsure. "I heard we're having a special class first period. Something different anyway."

Naruto looked about as interested as he ever did about something that concerned academics. He quickly decided to do something he found more productive like flicking rubber bands at people across the classroom.

Another sigh escaped Sasuke's lips. He wondered why he was stuck in the same classroom as an idiot like Naruto. Surely someone of Sasuke's prodigious skill was on a higher level of learning than a guy who could barely perform some of the most basic ninja techniques. Naruto was the epitome of failure in Sasuke's book. He was lazy, clumsy, and never took anything seriously. Coincidentally enough, these were all things that Sasuke could not stand.

Suddenly, the door opened again, slowly this time, a loud creak echoing in the room as its rusty hinges squeaked. The class froze and in stepped…

* * *

More Author's Notes:  
Just a silly filler I did for fun. There's a few tributes to some of my favorite stories that I've read on (chances are the authors will see them) scattered throughout the story. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Next update will probably return toA Ninja's Guide storyline unless reviews indicate otherwise. Feel free to drop a review because yeah...I'm sure you know how much I like those already. 


	15. Chapter 15 OMAKE

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I own Naruto. Really. I wrote the script and drew the pictures. Oh wait –crap. April Fools day was yesterday wasn't it. Damn. Then I guess I don't own it.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**IMPORANT AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**I'm taking a break from the regular storyline of a Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School and instead writing a short filler if you will (you know, those retarded things that keep the anime from moving on to the next story arc?) about Naruto and company's regular school life. Take note, the filler takes place before the first chapter. Comments, critiques, praises etc are always very welcome.

**Chapter Fifteen: A Ninja's Guide to Sex Ed (Omake)  
****Part II: Day One Continued**

The moment Mitarashi Anko entered the room the atmosphere changed with swiftness that only a class full of ninjas was capable of. Cigarettes were tossed out windows; homework was hastily stuffed out of sight, and eighteen ninjas teleported into their seats before their instructor closed the door behind her. It was remarkable feat, executed with speed and precision that hinted at the limitless potential the students of Konoha High possessed. It was a shame hardly any of them ever bothered to exercise it, though. A few of the seniors could easily become the next generation of Jounin if they tried hard enough, and maybe even a future Hokage lurked amidst this group of seniors, but judging from the laziness so common in the majority of the lot, most would be lucky if they even graduated from high school.

Naruto watched Anko march up to the front of the classroom. She wore a tan overcoat and, underneath, a fishnet shirt, her normal choice of attire over the traditional blue jumpsuit and green flack vest typical to Jounin ranked ninjas. That was entirely like Anko, however, to forgo tradition in favor of personal preference. Always rebellious and hotheaded, it was common knowledge that the purple-haired Jounin regularly argued with the Hokage about everything from the school's teaching curriculum to the amount of blue berries in the blue berry muffins served at lunch. Naruto admired Anko for this. If the Jounin weren't going to regulate something important like the standard of the cafeteria's blue berry muffins, then who would?

Anko stopped in front of the blackboard. Grabbing a piece of chalk from the tray, she scribbled the words "Sex Ed" on it in big bold letters, and then tossed the chalk aside. She slammed her hands hard on the front row of desks, and grinned menacingly at her class.

"Seniors," she said. "Today we're going to learn about sex."

No one said anything at first as no one was quite sure how to react to their instructor's unexpected announcement. A few of the Genin chuckled nervously as if Anko had just made a joke, but there was nothing humorous about the wolfish gleam in her eyes. Anko was dead serious. This realization quickly dawned on the class, and the laughter died away, leaving only a stony silence residing in the classroom.

"Instructor Anko?" Sasuke asked, raising his hand. "Why?"

Anko smirked. "Why? Why, Uchiha Sasuke? What will you do one day when someone attempts to seduce one dark night? How will you resist their amorous advances?" She rounded on the raven-haired Genin and pressed her face into his. "What will you do, Sasuke?"

Sasuke blinked. "What the hell does that have to do with Sex Ed?"

The purple-haired instructor paused and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. What did that have to do with Sex Ed? It was a very good question; Anko wondered why she had not brought it up when Tsunade answered the same 'why?' question the day prior. The Hokage's logic made sense yesterday, but suddenly the relevancy between seduction and responsible sexual activity seemed rather remote if not completely nonexistent. Anko would have to speak with the Hokage about that later on.

"Trust me, Sasuke," Anko answered. "It does. More than you know, it does." Before Sasuke could demand a better explanation, she turned her attention to the rest of the classroom. "Now, the Hokage has asked me to present a lesson on sex education in order to teach you youngsters how to handle your raging hormones appropriately."

Another pause; Anko looked at her students. "None of you girls are pregnant, are you?"

The female population of the senior class shook their heads.

"Terrific!" Anko said happily. "Now moving on the lesson…"

While Anko busied herself with a suitcase full of papers she had brought with her, Sakura turned to Sasuke and whispered, "Sasuke-kun, isn't this so exciting?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth in annoyance. Damn those stupid suffixes and honorifics. How they vexed him so! "Sakura, please stop calling me 'Sasuke-kun'."

Naruto leaned over and scowled at Sasuke. "Quiet, Sasuke-teme, you baka. Sakura-chan can call you whatever she wants!"

Sasuke moaned in quiet despair. Stupid suffixes, stupid Japanese dialect in an English fanfiction, stupid Naruto. Why did fate torture him so? Was it not enough that his brother, Itachi, had murdered his entire clan? No, sticking him in a classroom full of linguistically incorrect retards was just a kick in the nuts, God's way of saying, "I understand you know I hate you already, Sasuke, but I just thought I'd make sure."

"Now class," Anko said. "For this lesson I'm going to help you come to terms with your feelings for that special someone, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever. So here's what I want you to do. I want you write a short poem describing your feelings for this person. Think you can do this?"

Ask a group of kindergartners the same question and it would have probably been a prompt 'yes' followed by a flurry of activity as they hurried to obey their teacher. Little kids could process simple requests like that easier than teenagers, because teenagers just loved to whine and bitch about everything. As anticipated, almost instantly her request was met with a barrage of the most inane complaints from the senior year.

"What if I don't like someone?"

"What if they're here? It would be embarrassing!"

"Gai-sensei tells me that my emotions are the ripening of the springtime of youth!"

"I'm hungry!"

"I need to go pee!"

Anko felt a sudden urge to hurl a handful of shruikens into the crowd of griping students, musing that perhaps the sight of blood would quell the powerful anger building within her. However, she restrained herself from murdering her students for the moment. She imagined the Hokage would be even less understanding than the time Anko had made a particularly surly and insubordinate boy march into the infamous Forest of Death and then left him there unsupervised. The kid was lucky; he only had a few broken bones and a bad case of dysentery by the time a team of Chunin extracted him. Anko thought it was hilarious, but Tsunade had not been the least bit pleased.

"Just do it!" Anko screamed. Fortunately for her, the students seemed to have grown weary of complaining and began to write, though, suffice to say, not without liberal amounts of grumbling.

Naruto stared blankly at his paper and chewed on the end of his pencil. He could not begin to think of anything to write. He was a freaking ninja! Not some lame author. Only dorks did stuff like that. Imagine people actually writing for fun! The idea was laughable. But if he did not come up with something then Anko would not be happy, and the thought of an unhappy Anko was scary to say the least. He looked around and saw that everyone else was busy diligently scribbling away at their papers.

_Who do I like? _He thought. The obvious answer was Sakura, but how could he express his innermost feelings for the pink-haired ninja without embarrassing either her or himself? He could stick with a simple, 'I love you', but that seemed too cliché and not special enough for someone like Sakura.

Naruto scratched his head contemplatively, and as he did, he caught sight of Sakura. She was leaning over her paper, her pencil scratching furiously at her paper and merriment sparkling in her pretty green eyes. The blonde-haired ninja frowned darkly. It didn't take a genius to figure out who Sakura was writing about. Who else inspired so much happiness in her?

_Sasuke! _Naruto's internal persona snarled angrily. How he detested the Uchiha and his perfection! The thought of how much he hated Sasuke was like fuel to Naruto's creative engine, stoking the flames of his innovative genius. He knew exactly what to write now! Grabbing his pencil, the trouble making ninja began to write. His confession of love for Sakura would be so awesome that not even Sasuke could hope to top it!

"Time!" Anko yelled. "Now who wants to read their paper to the class?"

Unsurprisingly, no one volunteered. Anko smiled wickedly, her eyes perusing the classroom not unlike a snake searching for the tastiest morsel in a classroom full of mice. The tension was so thick it was almost palatable, the fear and nervousness almost a physical presence in the room. She loved it, savored it, delighted in it; drawing a sort of sadistic pleasure from watching her students squirm in their seats. No one wanted to publicly announce their affection for another student in front of the rest of their peers. It would be mortifying, and that was exactly why Anko was doing it.

"Haruno Sakura," Anko finally said, her gaze falling on the pink-haired ninja. "How about you?"

Sakura nodded and hesitantly stood up. Her voice shaking, she began to read.

"With your onyx eyes so bright and bold  
And your beautiful face that will never grow old  
With your brilliant mind that puts all to shame  
And the Sharingan bloodline that few others can claim  
For one second with you I would fly to the moon  
I love you so, Sasuke-Kun."

Upon finishing, she anxiously glanced around the room, ready to make a dash for the door if anyone laughed, but she needed not fear. Almost the entire class applauded appreciatively for Sakura's poem. The only ones who did not seem impressed by her creativity were Naruto, Sasuke, and Instructor Anko. Naruto was glaring at Sasuke hatefully; Sasuke was busy muttering something about "stupid suffixes," and Anko was looking at Sakura with something akin to utter revulsion.

After Sakura had returned to her seat, Instructor Anko sauntered over and casually leaned across her student's desk. "So tell, me, Sakura. You like, Sasuke, no?"

Sakura blushed deeply and shot a shy glance at Sasuke who, naturally, was not paying any attention. She nodded. "Yes."

"Why do you like him so much?"

It was an easy question for Sakura since she had long since established a huge list of reasons why she had committed her undying affection for the young Uchiha. She began going through the list, ticking off each entry on her fingers as she recited them. "Well, he's brave, and he's handsome, and he's smart, and he's talented, and he's so super cool, and he's-"

"Wrong!" Instructor Anko screamed angrily. Sakura froze in mid sentence, and the entire class stared at their teacher in surprise. The instructor slammed her palms on Sakura's desk, causing the startled young girl to jump, and then began shouting in Sakura's face.

"You think you love him? Huh? You think he's cool, and smart, and handsome, do you? Well you're wrong! You're all wrong!"

"Instructor Anko…" Sakura whispered tentatively, tears forming in her eyes.

Anko, however, was too far gone in her own realm of private insanity and was deafened to her terrified student's plaintive calling. Her face red with rage, the purple-haired teacher continued to assail the poor girl with her hysterical tirade.

"The next thing you know he's going to take you into the woods and tell you you're special! And then he's going to take advantage of you, make you feel like he loves you, and then he'll betray you! He'll brand you and then rip out your heat and crush it beneath his feet! He'll take your trust and exploit it, and make you look like an idiot for ever falling in love with him! That's what he's going to do!"

The entire class exchanged 'what the hell?' looks with one another, the sort of perplexed expression reserved for impossibly complicated lessons and deranged teachers. It was unnerving how frequently they used this expression for the latter reason around Konoha High.

"Love! Ha! Don't make me sick!" Anko shrieked, saliva dripping from her lips as her outburst continued. "You can't ever trust men! Those sick bastards are snakes! Snakes I tell you!"

"Uh…Instructor Anko…" Sakura attempted once again. "This is no longer about me, is it?"

Anko finally seemed to settle down. Fatigued, the purple-haired instructor sat back down and caught her breath. "Sorry about that, class." She muttered. "Good job, Sakura. Who should go next?"

Naruto eagerly jumped to his feet. "I'll go!" He announced. Before Instructor Anko could do the logical thing and tell him to shut up and sit down, the blonde-haired ninja began to read his poem.

"Dearest Sakura-chan, you make me sad  
Why do you like Sasuke-teme; are you mad?  
There's nothing great about him, he's not even nice  
In fact, I hear he's queer, like pink-fuzzy dice  
I want to eat ramen with you, Sakura, but you say no way  
Because you're obsessively in love with a dude who is gay  
So screw Uchiha Sasuke, he makes me sick  
I hope he rots in hell, that dirty, stupid prick."

Naruto looked up expectantly. "So what do you think?"

He never even saw Sakura's punch coming. One second he was standing, paper in hand, and the next he was flying almost comically through the air. Students screamed in alarm and dived out of the trajectory of the human projectile. Naruto crashed into the back row desks, knocking them askew as he rolled across the ground. Groaning painfully, the troublemaking ninja sat up, blood dribbling from his nose.

"Ouch…Sasuke-chan, why did you do that?" Naruto whined.

"Because you made fun of Sasuke-kun, you asshole!" Sakura screamed. She turned to the raven-haired Uchiha sitting beside her. "I'm so sorry, Sasuke-kun. Naruto is a baka; I'm sure you didn't take it seriously."

Sasuke pulled at his hair and grinded his teeth in frustration. "Christ! Will you people quit it with the suffixes and the Japanese!"

"Nani?" queried Sakura.

"I don't even know what that means!" Sasuke shouted. "I don't speak Japanese! I speak English! See? Look! English! Am I going to have to go buy some freaking subtitles or something so I can hold a conversation around here?"

Sakura bit her lip. She had never meant to offend Sasuke with her periodic usage of Japanese in English dialogue. It had always been a habitual thing, a force of habit more than any vain desire to infuse a sense of profoundness in her words. Right then and there she vowed to stop mixing English and Japanese together, if only to preserve the sanity of her crush. Speak Japanese when speaking Japanese and English when speaking English.

"Gomen, Sasuke-kun." Sakura whispered before she could stop herself. "God damn it! I did it again, didn't I?"

"Hai, you did, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he sat back down at his seat. He looked more less like new, making Sakura vaguely wonder how he had managed to heal his bloody nose so quickly.

Sasuke banged his head on the desk. "God, I hate you people."

"So we've heard," replied Naruto.

Instructor Anko cleared her throat loudly, no doubt annoyed by the interruption. Naruto was not sure why she would be upset. It wasn't as if there had been any semblance of coherency during the entire class; Sasuke's temper tantrum about suffixes was just another disturbance in the entire chaotic mess that Anko liked to call a lesson. A quick survey of the classroom told Naruto that half the class was asleep, a quarter was doing homework or chatting, and one particularly amorous couple was making out frivolously in the back of the classroom again, adding a nice spin of irony to their Sex Ed lesson. All in all, everyone but Anko seemed happy right now.

Unknown to Naruto, however, there was one other person who was not happy with the way the class was going. It wasn't that she was unhappy, per say, but Hyuga Hinata was definitely not content at the moment. Her small body twitched every time someone spoke, and she kept switching her gaze back and forth between the paper on her desk and Naruto who was sitting across the class. Inuzuka Kiba, who sat beside Hinata, took note of his friend's strange behavior and wrinkled his eyebrow curiously.

"What's the matter with you, Hinata?" Kiba asked. "I can smell your fear."

"Y-you what, Kiba?" Hinata stammered.

"Your fear. I can smell it. Like a dog can smell fear. Same idea."

Hinata gave him a weird look. "That's kind of gross, Kiba." She wanted this conversation to change topics, and fast. The last thing she wanted was Kiba hounding her about why she was nervous, because she knew her transparent nature would quickly reveal the source of her anxiety, namely the piece of paper on her desk.

She wanted to destroy it, burn it, tear it, whatever, but she was afraid Instructor Anko would spot her. On the other hand, she was equally as terrified at the prospect that she might be called on to read her poem, a poem that unfortunately contained her truest, most passionate feelings for Naruto! Hinata had no idea why she had chosen to write it in school when she barely trusted her own private diary with such personal information, but before she knew it, the deed was done, and now she was in trouble. If Anko called on her, she would have no choice but to read it, and then what?

Would Naruto be happy? Would he be sad? Would he love her or hate her?

"Thank you, Naruto, for that tasteless piece of poetry," Anko snorted. "Now who else wants to go?"

_Please don't call on me, please don't call one me…_Hinata silently begged. _Please don't call one me!_

The purple-haired Jounin searched the classroom for her next victim. Hinata slithered her body down underneath her desk so that only her head peeked above the table's surface. Maybe Anko wouldn't see her through her ingenious ninja concealment skills.

"Hyuga Hinata, why don't you go next?"

* * *

Additional Author's Notes:  
-Renamed filler to Omake as this is clearly more Omake than…well…filler.  
-My heat freaking hurts! Gosh!  
-I'm not really serious about the whole entire usage of Japanese and suffixes in English fanfiction. It's a minor pet peeve and I just like to poke fun at it.  
-Borrowed the phrase gay as pink fuzzy dice. Hope you don't mind, Black Mage Rose. 

This is the end of the Omake for now. Next update will continue the story. It's been fun, though! I'll probably continue the Omake later on whenever I get bad writer's block. Hope you guys liked it!


	16. Chapter 16 OMAKE

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Have you noticed the copyright notice changes every chapter? However, the fact that I still don't own Naruto remains sadly the same.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**IMPORANT AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
**I'm taking a break from the regular storyline of a Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School and instead writing a short filler if you will (you know, those retarded things that keep the anime from moving on to the next story arc?) about Naruto and company's regular school life. Take note, the filler takes place before the first chapter. Comments, critiques, praises etc are always very welcome.

**Chapter Sixteen: A Ninja's Guide to Sex Ed (Omake)  
****Part III: Day One Continued AGAIN **

Hinata tried to be a cheerful person; she liked to always see the best in situations no matter how unfavorable they may seem, but sometimes it felt near impossible to remain optimistic when faced with the adversities so common in her life. She was the eldest but least loved of her father's children, her cousin, Neji, was a genius and made her look even worst, and her little sister was proving to be a better ninja that Hinata ever had. These problems were trivial in Hinata's mind; obstacles in life that she had long grown accustomed to and could now shrug off without worry. It was the screwballs, those unprecedented surprises that life tossed her way that really bothered her.

Screwballs like fainting in the middle of Instructor Anko's Sex Ed class. She barely even remembered it, but the brutal teasing at the hands of her friends, Sakura and Ino, more than made up for Hinata's lapse in memory. Anko had picked Hinata to read her poem, Hinata stood up, and then suddenly there was darkness…

Hinata had awoken several hours later in bed, safe in her own room on her family's gigantic estate. Apparently, she had passed out, was rushed to the hospital wing, and then within minutes, released into the care of her family's private physician. From there, her servants had brought the unconscious Hyuga back the mansion where she had been thoroughly examined. There was no major injury, the physician concluded after poking and prodding Hinata for an hour. She was in good health.

Hiashi Hyuga, Hinata's father, had frowned at the news, almost as if displeased that his daughter was in no mortal peril. But that was only typical really. If she were to faint in the middle of a normal school day, there had better be a damn good reason for it. And since there wasn't, it only proved to reinforce the idea in her father's mind that Hinata was indeed the weakest and most inferior of the clan.

_Look on the bright side, _Hinata consoled herself. _At least Instructor Anko didn't make me read my poem. _She smiled, bittersweet relief settling over her as she sat down on her bed. On one hand she was ecstatic that she had maneuvered her way out of such a sticky situation, but on the other, her poem had been quite nice and it was a shame that Naruto would never see it. Hinata pulled her book bag onto her lap and began rummaging through its contents, searching through it for the paper on which she had written the poem. It captured her most devout, passionate feelings for Konoha High's resident troublemaker, and Hinata wanted to read it just one more time before she burned it. It was a tragedy that something so precious would have to be destroyed, but in light of the near catastrophe that afternoon, there really was no other option.

Hinata's hands dug deep through her bag, feeling their way past the heavy, meticulously kept binders that housed her class work. Her school bag was always very organized so that no loose papers littered its interior. Having fainted before she could properly file it away, the poem would be the only paper not committed to her plastic archives, the anomaly that needed to be purged in order to maintain the integrity of the pristine society her bag entertained.

Only the paper was not there.

An unpleasantly cold chill descended down Hinata's spine as if someone had poured an icy glass of water down the back of her shirt. She took a deep breath, hoping that an influx of fresh oxygen would regulate the rapid beating that had begun pounding deep within her chest, and forced herself to calmly sift through the book bag again.

No poem was to be found.

This time Hinata did not bother with any pretense of composure. With a strangled squeal, she dove into her bag, haphazardly tossing binders across the room as she searched frantically for the lost poem. Her heavy History binder sailed through the air and crashed into the far wall in a rainstorm of papers, the Healing Technique notes she had labored hours over tossed carelessly aside. The poem, the poem, where was that poem?

Panicking, the eldest of the Hyuga heirs pushed her bag off her bed and sprinted out of her room. She met Neji in the hallway as he emerged from the bathroom. Clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist and a toothbrush in his mouth, her older cousin blinked in confusion as Hinata rounded on him.

"Neji!" she yelled. "The servants told me one of my friends brought my school stuff by. Who brought my books to the estate?"

Neji thought for a minute, brushing his teeth idly before answering around a mouthful of toothpaste. "What was his name again? You know, that loud mouthed idiot in our class?"

"Naruto delivered my books?" gasped Hinata, clasping her hands over her mouth in horror.

"No, no. The other loud mouthed idiot."

"Kiba?"

Neji nodded. "Yeah, that's the one."

"Thank you, Neji!" Hinata said gratefully. Without wasting another second, she raced back towards her bedroom door.

"Oh, and your dad is furious with him." Neji called after Hinata. "His dog pissed all over the new flowers and now the entrance smells like-"

But Hinata did not wait to hear the rest of what Neji had to say. She slammed her door shut and dove for the cordless phone sitting on her desk. Snatching it up, she hurriedly dialed in the number for the Inuzuka home. The phone rang a few times before someone picked up. Fortunately it was Kiba. Hinata was not in the mood to endure another of Kiba's sister's taunting inquisitions as to whether or not Hinata was her little brother's new girlfriend.

"Kiba speaking," Kiba answered.

"Kiba!" Hinata said urgently. "Did you take that piece of paper on my desk after I fainted?"

"Oh hey, Hinata. You're feeling better I take it?"

"Perfect. Now do you have that paper?"

A moment of silence lapsed between the two ninjas as Kiba contemplated Hinata's question. "Oh, the one that had Naruto's name scribbled on the back? Yeah I took it."

Hinata was not sure whether or not to sigh in relief or swear. If Kiba had it, then the chances of Naruto accidentally seeing it were minimal as Kiba would promptly lose the poem or one of his dogs would eat it. But still, if Kiba read it, then she would most likely have to endure a months worth of teasing at the hands of the Inuzuka wolf-trainer.

"Did you read it?"

"Huh? No." Kiba replied. "I wouldn't want to read a poem of Naruto's."

"Kiba," Hinata explained patiently. "That wasn't Naruto's poem. That was mine."

"Wait, what? Your poem? Then why was Naruto's name on it?"

"Uh, I borrowed a piece of paper from him a couple days ago," she lied. "He must have written it on the back or something."

Hinata could hardly believe her luck! Losing the poem was a momentary set back, but now that Kiba had it in its unread entirety, it would be back within her possession in no time! Things were finally going her way.

"Really? Well, uh…I don't know how to break this to you, Hinata, and I know you're going to be mad, but…"

"But what, Kiba?" Hinata demanded. Her hand clutched around the phone, cracking its plastic shell as her fingers tightened harder and harder around it like a vice. Fear rose up in her chest, the warm relief she had been harboring extinguished in a deluge of dread. "But what?"

"Well, I saw Naruto's name on it, so I kind of gave it to him."

"You what?" screamed Hinata into the phone.

"It had his name on it! I thought it was his!" Kiba replied defensively.

There was an opinion propagated around Konoha High about Hinata's personality that portrayed her as an innocent, timid and nice girl that seldom voiced her true feelings. That was what most people thought, those who did not know Hinata very well anyway. Kiba had known Hinata since kindergarten, and he knew there was another very different alter ego residing beneath her placid exterior. She was normally kind, warm, and reserved, but in extreme circumstances, when her schizophrenic persona emerged, well…

"I'm going to freaking kill you!" Hinata yelled. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even a year from now, but I guarantee you, Inuzuka Kiba, I'm going to murder you!"

"Hinata, calm down…"

"Calm down?" she scoffed. "Calm down?"

She lost track of how long she bombarded the poor Inuzuka boy with graphically detailed threats of all the ways she envisioned killing him. Hinata often surprised herself at how vulgar and her inner self could be; in the past, she would never have thought she even would contemplate some of the more profane and explicit methods of execution she described to Kiba. They just rolled off her tongue, as if she had been unconsciously storing them away for years now in the deepest annals of her memory, just waiting for some unfortunate soul to unleash it all on.

At some point or the other, Hinata paused long enough to realize that Kiba had hung up and that she was now screaming incoherently at an unresponsive dial-tone. With a snarl of rage, Hinata threw the phone across the room, not caring where it landed, and flung herself on her bed. She sobbed miserably; hating the world and the cruel tricks it played on her, and then rolled over so that her silver eyes could stare forlornly at her ceiling.

What would she do, oh what would she do? First fainting in the middle of class and now _this?_ Naruto was probably already ashamed of her for being so weak, and after he read her poem, there would be no doubt in his mind that Hinata was just another silly, stupid girl that was not worthy of his time or interest.

"God, you hate me, don't you?" She groaned.

The deafening silence that met her question, Hinata felt, was answer enough.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto had lived in the dorms ever since he started high school. Having no parents to call his own, it was an easy decision to embrace the privilege of independent living offered to all graduated Genin. While he had many fond memories from his time living under the guardianship of Instructor Iruka, the desire to be released from the restraining shackles of adult supervision far superceded any inclination to do otherwise. In the dorms, no one complained about what Naruto ate, when he should do his homework, or how late he stayed out sneaking around the ninja village with his friends. The newfound freedom was great. Well, most of the time anyway. On the flipside, no one was there to cook him dinner, wash his laundry, or clean his dishes either. Instructor Iruka had always been very effective in those tasks, so effective that Naruto teased him that he would make a good wife one of these days.

He called his room a bachelor's pad, a man's sanctuary devoid of a woman's touch. Translated, this meant the dorm was a dump, because indeed no woman would have been able to endure the mess. Dirty laundry littered the floor and was draped carelessly over the room's sparse furnishings, and empty ramen cups, candy wrappers, and an assorted library of comics, school books, and dirty magazines were tossed messily about. Naruto seldom cleaned up. Only when the rancid odor from the rotting garbage became unbearable or when Naruto realized he no longer had any clean clothing did he bother to tidy up his dorm.

The blonde-haired ninja strolled into the room, slamming the door shut behind him and tossing his bag onto a huge pile of laundry in the center of the dorm. Supposedly his futon was hidden beneath it all, but it had been over a month since he had seen it last. Kicking stray soda cans and instant noodle packages out of his way, Naruto walked over to the refrigerator unit in the corner and opened it. Almost immediately, a disgusting stench assaulted the young ninja, and hastily Naruto slammed the door shut again.

The milk had expired again. Naruto made a mental note to go grocery shopping soon. He could only leech off his friend and next door neighbor, Kyo, for so long. Besides, he drank skim milk. Disgusting!

He reached into his pocket, searching for a marker so he could write himself a reminder, but instead of a marker, his hands came across something else, a piece of paper. Curious, Naruto pulled it out. It was folded and his name was written on the back.

"Oh yeah," he muttered to himself. "Kiba thought this was mine."

Obviously it wasn't though. Naruto rarely wrote any of his school work down –today, during Instructor Anko's class, had been a rare exception. He shrugged. The paper was of no importance to him. He might as well just throw it away. Naruto looked for the garbage can and located it buried underneath a heap of week old newspapers and juice cartons. A frown crossed the young ninja's face. It would be too bothersome to clear away all the junk just so he could throw away one piece of paper.

Instead, with a flick of his wrist, Naruto flung the paper onto the kitchen table. Maybe if he was bored he would read it later, but now he had more important things to do. He glanced at his watch and grinned. It was six o'clock, better known to Naruto and his friends as shower hour. It was the most common time for the dorm's female population to use the buildings communal bath, and subsequently, was the best opportunity to use the convenient peaking hole in the wall that Naruto had made two years earlier.

A dozen dirty thoughts dancing through the perverted ninja's mind, Naruto ran back out the door, the folded piece of paper forgotten.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
This is the last part of the Omake for a while. I planned to update the normal storyline, but something about chapter sixteen really wasn't going right. I was about sixty percent done with it when I decided to scrap what I had and start over again. Expect it sometime next week. Instead, I wrote the conclusion for Day One for the Sex Ed arc. It's shorter than usual and a bit lacking in the laughs department, but I thought I'd end the first part with a bit more closure. Hope you guys enjoyed it! 

Here's a teaser for now.

ZOMG! Kakashi is teaching Sex Ed! What happens when he forces his students to go on dates for a grade, and what happens when he accidentally pairs Sasuke and Naruto together? With tension thick between the two rivaling ninjas and their grade at stake, will it be yaoi, boy love romance, or will it be unbridled chaos and mayhem? All this and more when A Ninja's Guide to Sex Ed updates…sometime or another.


	17. Chapter 17

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto but I do own a pimping Naruto headband. Which just makes me a geek I guess.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Seventeen: It's Killing Time!**

Haku was silent in the presence of her master, though it was not from a lack of anything to say. She very much desired to speak, but she realized that anything she might have to say, no matter how tastefully worded, would undoubtedly be correctly interpreted as nothing short of gross disrespect. Haku did not want to appear disrespectful, or worse, defiant, in the eyes of her superior. However, contrary to what one might assume, this display of courtesy was not forced nor inspired by fear of her master. No, she was respectful because she wanted to, because her master deserved it. Momochi Zabuza was a great man, a figure of unparalleled veneration in Haku's eyes. And that was why Haku chose not to speak.

Instead, she twirled one of her thin, throwing needles back and forth between her pale fingers with an idle sort of complacent disinterest. Anything tohold her interest and keep hertonguein check.A single mistake would have rent open her flesh from the needle's razor sharp point, but never once did she pay heed to it as it danced through her hand.

"You disagree with my decision, Haku?" Zabuza asked. He was reclining against an empty cage in the middle of the room, an empty cage that had previously housed their prisoners, a Konoha ninja and his dog.

"It's not my place to agree or disagree, Master Zabuza." Haku said pleasantly.

Zabuza smirked. It was hard to tell what Haku was thinking with her unwavering amiable personality. He couldn't even remember the last time the girl had so much as frowned much less sound annoyed or angry. "I know you want to say something, Haku. Go ahead."

Haku hesitated. Just because someone gave you permission to be rude didn't mean it was the right thing to do. But in this case, she would make an exception. "You just let those Konoha spies walk away with our prisoners."

"Indeed I did." Confirmed Zabuza.

"Now that the Konoha team has all their members, they will have no reason to go to the bridge with the Kyubi. This, in turn, will void the agreement made between Gato and his business partner."

"True. Please, continue, Haku."

"Conclusively, this will terminate our contract with Gato along with any promises of payment for our services."

"Again, correct."

Haku thought long and hard before she spoke the next word. She had hoped by clarifying their rather precarious, present situation would reveal the folly in her master's planning, but judging from Zabuza's relaxed posture, nothing was amiss. That could only mean Zabuza was planning something contrary to their original objectives, and it bothered Haku somewhat that he had not elected to share this with her. Normally Zabuza never hid anything from her.

Surely it was not a matter of a lack of trust. After all, it had been Haku who had discovered the Konoha spies in Kakami, and it had been her who had lured the "Mr. and Mrs. Chichiro" to their safe house under the pretense of leading them to Gato. Of course, back then, the expectation had been that Zabuza would take them prisoner, not allow them to free the prisoner that Gato had somehow managed to take hostage on his own.

One thing Haku did know was that Gato was unaware of this recent turn of events. For all she knew, he was still barricaded in his private house on the south side of town, waiting in terror for the next meeting with his secret business partner, completely oblivious to the fact that, barring a miracle, the Kyubi would not be there to barter with. Chances were, once the business partner found out Gato had reneged on the deal, the fat crime lord would not have too much longer to live. Not that this bothered Haku a great deal. She thought he was a jackass anyway.

So what was Zabuza thinking?

"Why?" Haku asked.

"It's complicated," responded Zabuza after a moment. "But it has everything to do with this team that Konoha has sent to Kakami."

"They're here to apprehend Gato." Haku pointed out. "Our current actions aren't entirely in keeping with protecting him from this threat."

Zabuza snorted. "They can have Gato for all I care. I was going to kill him anyhow once we were done."

"When did you decide this?"

"About five minutes after I agreed to work for him."

Haku's smile broadened. The idea of betraying and murdering Gato appealed to her somehow. She had no liking for the fat gangster; low-life scum like him that preyed on the weaknesses of others disgusted her. Killing him would be a blessing. "Then what is this all about, Master Zabuza?"

Zabuza reached towards where his sword was propped up against the wall and quietly slid it across his back. "It's time for you to leave, Haku."

Haku froze in place. Her throat clenched, and her next words came out as a hoarse whisper. "What?"

"I want you to leave, Haku. Your business here is done. Get out of the city and meet me back in Rock Country."

"Why?" Haku asked. "What's going on?"

"If everything is going the way I think it is, an old acquaintance of mine will be waiting for me at the bridge soon. I'm going to kill him." Zabuza explained. Haku began to speak, but he cut her off with a harsh glare. "This is a private matter, Haku. Now leave."

"I can help you," pleaded Haku. "Please let me come."

Zabuza shook his head vehemently. "You're a powerful ninja, Haku, but even you wouldn't stand a chance against the man I'm meeting."

Haku sincerely doubted that. In all modesty, she knew she was more skilled than most ninjas. How many others had earned the privilege of being an S-Ranked criminal? There was thousands of B-Ranked and hundreds of A-Ranked thugs, but only a handful of S-Ranked renegade ninjas were still out there. And Haku was one of them. How strong did a ninja have to be that Zabuza would doubt her ability to even lending a helping hand?

"Who is he?" Haku asked.

"A former ally of mine, now rival and enemy," Zabuza answered. He walked toward the door leading out of their safe house, paused in the doorway, and looked back at his apprentice. "Konoha's legendary assassin: Hatake Kakashi."

* * *

"You're sure his name was Zabuza?" Kakashi asked Sasuke. The younger ninja nodded. He seemed surprisingly alert seeing as that he and Sakura had probably not slept in over a day now; perhaps Kakashi had underestimated the two. They were certainly proving to be more resourceful than he had expected.

Much to everyone's surprise and relief, the duo had arrived at the safe house earlier that morning with a wounded Kiba and Akamaru in toll. After the girls patched up their injured comrades, Kakashi had sat down to debrief Sasuke and Sakura. Suffice to say, the news of two renegade Jounin on the scene drastically changed things, a rather anti-climatic follow up from the night before. Still, Kakashi had long grown accustomed to last minute changes. On missions like these the only certainty was uncertainty.

Afterwards, the team had moved out, closing up the safe house and relocating to a grassy hill a mile or so away from their new destination: the bridge. There, they had set up a new base of operations, a primitive one with only a blanket serving as a makeshift tent for their sleeping accommodations. Not that they would be sleeping very much. In fact, if they played their cards right and lady luck was on their side, today could be their last day in Kakami.

"What are you up to?" Kakashi muttered to no one in particular, reaching into his backpack for a pair of binoculars.

Kakashi peered through the binoculars at the bridge below. From his team's vantage point, he had a clear view of the convex stretch of concrete that passed over a large river and linked the northern and southern ends of the city together. There was something peculiar afoot, however. A dense fog had settled over the bridge, enveloping it an obscuring cloud of mist. Even the Hyuga clan's Byakugan had failed to penetrate it, leading Kakashi to suspect that the fog was not entirely natural. It was a little too coincidental that the fog provided perfect concealment for an ambush, and Kakashi knew a skilled ninja like Zabuza would have no trouble manipulating water based elements to create such an effect.

Some of what he knew about the renegade ninja came from the bingo book he used to carry as an ANBU agent. The important kind of stuff about Zabuza. For instance, he was a psychopathic murderer who had tried to kill his own people. That kind of thing.

The bridge was void of pedestrians, strange for the early morning where hawkers and merchants would use the bridge to commute to work. While Kakashi was pleased they would not need to worry about civilians, he had a grim notion that the empty bridge was more than just a fortuitous coincidence. How many people had to die to ensure that the bridge was unoccupied? Zabuza would have no reservations about murdering civilians if he needed to. He betrayed his own village, killed his fellow comrades, attempted to assassinate his own leader –the blood of the innocent meant nothing to him.

The silver haired Jounin returned the binoculars to his rucksack and stealthily moved backwards into the forest where the Genin were waiting for him. He motioned for them to come closer, and then in a barely audible whisper, told his students what he had seen.

"A trap?" Sasuke asked.

"More than likely," replied Kakashi. "If it is, Zabuza will be waiting for us to come down there. Maybe Haku too."

Naruto eagerly poked his head over Sasuke's shoulder, grinning excitedly. "Two of them against all of us? Let's go get them!" He said.

Sasuke scowled at his comrade's incompetence. Kakashi humored Naruto with a small smile as if regarding a particularly slow child who was too stupid to know any better. Not that he thought Naruto was exceptionally dumb. Contrary, Kakashi knew Naruto was quite clever and adept at acquiring new skills, but his over exuberance and spontaneous personality averaged him out as being only semi-competent at best. In other words, Naruto would become a great ninja one of these days if his natural stupidity didn't kill him first.

"They're S-Ranked criminals, Naruto." He explained gently. "They're out of your league."

"But I think I could still…"

"You should worry about Gato for now," Kakashi continued, interrupting Naruto. "He won't be on the bridge since they don't have Kiba for leverage, so chances are he's in hiding and his bodyguards are there waiting foryou to show up."

"Us?" asked Sakura. "You're not coming with us, Instructor Kakashi?"

Kakashi seemed not to hear Sakura. He turned to where Kiba, Akamaru, and Asuka were resting. "I want you two to get back to Konoha and request reinforcements from the Hokage. Think you can make it?"

Asuka nodded. "I'll make sure Kiba gets there in one piece, instructor." Kiba glared daggers at his team mate, but was too weary from his wounds to formulate something scathing enough to shoot back.

"Check around town for clues for where Gato might be," Kakashi instructed his students. "Kiba and Asuka found him easily enough the first time and I don't think he's gotten any smarter since then. Shadow him as long as possible, and if you feel confident enough, move in to apprehend the target."

"But Instructor Kakashi!" Sakura objected. She raised her hand involuntarily like she was sitting in the white-haired Jounin's class back in Konoha, and demanded, "What about you?"

Kakashi looked out into the distance thoughtfully and said, "I'm going to pick a fight."

"What?" exclaimed Naruto loudly. "What about them being S-Ranked criminals and all that?"

"Or what about the mission?" inquired Neji quietly. "Now that we've rescued Kiba and Akamaru, shouldn't we worry more about completing our job?"

"Mission just changed," Kakashi answered dismissively. "I'm going to engage the enemy on the bridge."

"But…" Sakura stammered. "What if…"

"The rest of you continue with your mission," their teacher told them. "I'll meet up with you later."

As always, Naruto had something to say about this. He had a comment for anything, and it seemed he thought it a crime to leave it unvoiced. "You're abandoning your team so you can go fight with this Zabuza guy." He stated plainly. "Why is it so important to you to fight him?"

"It's every ninja's job to apprehend criminals." Kakashi said simply. It was an empty excuse; even Kakashi realized how insincere it sounded. But the truth would upset the Genin. They were, after all, still children and not ready to confront the harsh realities of what it meant to be a ninja. These kinds of hard lessons would be ones they would learn on their own when they were ready.

"Good luck everyone," he said, and with that, he rose and began walking down the hill. Footsteps echoed from behind as someone chased after him. Curious, Kakashi paused and glanced back up the hill and saw Sasuke standing there.

"Instructor, is this just business…or personal too?" the young Uchiha asked.

The hint of rebuke in Sasuke's query did not go missed by Kakashi, and unbeknownst to Sasuke, it made the older ninja grin faintly. Few ninjas had the daring to ask such a bold question to Kakashi, and even fewer would have had the insight to think of asking it in the first place. Sasuke was repeatedly proving that his stellar reputation in school was not unearned, and Kakashi made a mental note to observe the boy's development in the future.

Uchiha Sasuke would go far, of that Kakashi had little doubt. And he was seldom wrong about things like this.

The Jounin shrugged and continued his descent toward the bridge. "Maybe a little bit of both."

* * *

Momochi Zabuza felt the intruder's approach long before he saw the shadow approaching through the mist. Having waited impatiently on the bridge for over an hour, he had almost given up hope on Konoha's team showing up, but just as he was about to leave, he felt a great chakra presence enter the area. A normal man would have never noticed it, but to someone as attuned to the ninja arts as Zabuza, it was immediately detected. The atmosphere around him rippled in response to the enormous amount of energy pulsating in the air, and the hairs on Zabuza's arms prickled in alarm. It was a strong aura, more than any ninja Zabuza had encountered in a long time.

And then he saw a lone figure walking towards him, traversing through the fog effortlessly without a care in the world.

Zabuza raised an eyebrow and a broad grin tugged at the corner of his lips as he recognized who it was. The silver hair, the lackadaisical gait, the characteristic face mask and concealed eye –there was no mistaking the infamous visage of Konoha's top assassin. A chill descended down his spine, a marvelous sensation that made Zabuza shiver. The ex-Mist ninja rose from where he had been reclining and walked to the middle of the bridge, his hand coming to a rest on the bandaged hilt of the gigantic sword strapped across his back.

"Hatake Kakashi," Zabuza greeted him. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Four years to be exact, Zabuza," Kakashi replied coldly." I was hoping the Mist Village had finally gotten their intelligence reports right when they reported you dead two years ago. It seems they were mistaken. What a shame."

Zabuza laughed heartily, a loud guttural noise that echoed in the morning's silence. "That's what I liked about you, Kakashi. Always making jokes at the most inappropriate moments. They always did make me laugh."

Only silence met that comment, but then Zabuza had not really expected Kakashi to be in the mood for conversation. He knew Kakashi was here to kill him. Why else would the legendary ANBU officer be meeting a top-ranking criminal on an isolated bridge in the early hours of the morning? In truth, Zabuza was a bit flattered that Konoha's Hokage thought he warranted bringing Kakashi out of retirement just to kill him.

"Tell me something, Kakashi," Zabuza said. "Do those kids you're hanging out with know you already knew that I would be here? Or better yet, when your Hokage found that I was playing bodyguard for Gato, did you personally request this mission?"

The cold glare emitted from the white-haired Jounin's single eye was answer enough.

Zabuza chuckled. "You're still mad about that kid in your squad that I killed? You should have been expecting the betrayal. You should have been watching out for him. It's your fault the rookie is dead."

Kakashi's gaze hardened further until his eye narrowed until it was but a thin slit radiating with lethal intent. "I trusted you." he hissed.

"Trusting me was your mistake," the ex-Mist ninja said with a shrug of indifference.

"No." The ANBU assassin shook his head. "It was my choice."

He drew a kunai from his vest and pointed the tip at the large sellsword's heart. "I'm here to kill you, Zabuza. Submit and you have my word as a Konoha ninja that your death will be quick and painless. Resist and I can make no promises."

Zabuza snorted derisively. "You're good, Kakashi, but certainly not good enough to take me on."

"Let's find out."

Zabuza smiled. His mouth was hidden by the bandages, but there was no mistaking the flicker of glee that sprung up in his eyes at Kakashi's bold challenge. Chuckling deeply, a menacing sound that resonated in the still morning air, he unsheathed his gigantic shark fin sword and slammed the blade into the concrete floor. It plowed through the cement like paper, embedding itself firmly into the bridge in a shower of stone splinters. "Arrogant as always, Hatake," He said, "I guess I'll have to kill you first and then-"

He broke off in mid-sentence and in a blur of motion, pulled his sword free and leaped toward Kakashi, his blade held high ready to strike.

The swiftness of the unexpected attack caught Kakashi off guard and he barely raised his knife in time to meet Zabuza's massive sword. The two weapons clashed together in a storm of sparks, their metal edges grinded loudly against each other as each of the Jounin sought to overpower the other.

With a jeering cackle, Zabuza slid his blade away from Kakashi's and then struck again, cleaving at the white-haired ninja's legs. Deftly, Kakashi jumped backwards out of range, and in mid-air, flung his knife at Zabuza's face. It was easily deflected by the flat Zabuza's gigantic sword, but it gave Kakashi enough time to retreat and regroup.

"You've gotten soft, Hatake, teaching kids at that stupid school." The renegade ninja leered. "You sure you don't want your students help? Maybe all you combined_ might_ be able to beat me."

The renegade ninja charged forward again, his sword swinging. Kakashi hopped backward, each leap keeping him only a hairsbreadth away from the sharp tip of Zabuza's blade. He made no attempt to retaliate, content to dance out of harm's way instead of launching his own offensive, but this came to no surprise to Zabuza. From what he knew of the legendary Jounin, Kakashi was primarily a defensive ninja who relied more on his wit and guile to ensure victory than pure strength. That was not to say that the white-haired ninja was not without his own arsenal–the infamous Konoha assassin had not earned his rank as an ANBU captain by running and hiding after all.

With a roar, Zabuza swung his sword in a deadly arc that would had taken Kakashi's head clean off, but Kakashi smoothly ducked under it. He rolled on his shoulder and slid across the cold concrete away from the menacing swordsman. His body tensed as if every joint in his body storing energy like a coiled spring, and then suddenly he launched himself at Zabuza.

Inwardly the ex-Mist assassin sighed in disappointment. It was a foolish maneuver, a hasty, improvised attack that had more flash than substance. Counter attacking so quickly after a successful evasion was foolhardy, a rookie mistake as it left one woefully exposed to any subsequent follow-ups by their opponent. Zabuza would have thought such an error beneath a ninja like Kakashi, and in a way, he was saddened that their little skirmish would end so quickly. It would be a disappointingly truncated match that Zabuza had hoped would be epic in length, a chronicle of a clash between titans.

But if Kakashi was so willing to hand him an easy victory then so be it.

The renegade ninja laughed and swung his sword at the Kakashi, but just as the blade cleaved through the Konoha instructor, Kakashi's body disappeared in a billowing cloud of white smoke.

"A shadow clone!" Zabuza snarled. He spun around, wildly searching for where his opponent had vanished too, but he needed not look for long. The ground beneath his feet trembled, shaking and cracking as a tremendous force rocked the bridge. A second later, the ground erupted in a geyser of debris, and suddenly the obscured form of a fist cut through the thick cloud of stone and dust. The punch caught Zabuza solidly underneath his chin, knocking the tall ninja backwards through the air.

The big sellsword slowly returned to his feet, stunned by the startling blow. In the middle of the bridge was now a cragged hole and carefully extracting himself from the crater was Kakashi.

"Still think I need help to beat you, Zabuza?" He asked, nonchalantly brushing debris from his hair.

Zabuza smiled and threw his back in insane laughter. To think he had made the mistake of underestimating the man! It was such a sin, a sin that could only be atoned for with the blood of his enemies.

The renegade ninja had killed dozens of men, perhaps hundreds, but all of them were meaningless compared to the prospective death of Hatake Kakashi. To kill a defenseless opponent was nothing, but to claim to life of a worthy combatant, someone who could fight toe-to-toe with one of the seven Swordsman of the Mist…well that was an opportunity that did not come around everyday. And Hatake Kakashi was indeed such an opponent. An infamous legend like himself, the enigmatic Jounin was perhaps the only man that inspired such excitement in Zabuza's heart.

"Good, Kakashi!" he roared. "But not good enough! Now prepare yourself!"

Zabuza sheathed his sword and his hands disappeared in a haze of choreographed motion, seamlessly forming hand seal after hand seal in an incoherent blur

"Hydro Clone technique!" the renegade ninja bellowed.

On command, a column of water exploded from the river. It rocketed high into the sky but then dispersed in the air, creating a deluge of water that came crashing back down on the bridge. Like waves smashing against the surf, the water fell hard but was quickly swept aside, drained back into the river from where it came. However, several puddles were left behind in its wake, and unlike normal puddles they were in no hurry to dissipate. They were growing larger and larger, expanding and coalescing together until each individual puddle had created the vague form of a tall man.

Kakashi watched the process detachedly, not even blinking as the water figurines' features hardened into the likeness of their owner. Where there once had been only one Zabuza were now four, each an identical copy of the original right. They scowled and glowered across the bridge at Kakashi, waiting eagerly to see how he would react.

His response was simple. Slowly, Kakashi reached up to his forehead protector and gently lifted up the tilted end, straightening it so that the band rode perfectly straight around his head. For a moment, an awkward sensation ran through his body as his left eye was once again exposed to the world. He kept it clenched shut, but already he felt so much more alive, as if his senses had amplified exponentially with the unveiling of his obscured eye. And that was just the beginning.

"Zabuza," Kakashi said. "Once I open this eye, your fate is sealed. This is your last chance to surrender."

A chorus of raucous laughter erupted from across the bridge, their uncouth mockery an insult to Kakashi's ears.

Slowly, the hidden eye opened.

"Sharingan!"

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Thus ends the much delayed chapter seventeen. Sorry about that guys. Between getting ready for university next year and high school, I just haven't had either the time or the motivation to write. That and I had to go through four drafts of the stupid chapter before they were actually half decent and not crappy. So again, apologies for pushing the release for chapter seventeen so far back. Updates should be more frequent until June when I'll probably be too busy moving my stuff to America to write. Between now and then, I should be able to write at least two more chapters, though.

Only semi-happy with this chapter. Too rushed. Didn't have the time to elaborate on things that I wanted to. Maybe later on. Also, didn't have much time to proof read it. If there's any real glaring typos or grammar mistakes (or plot inconsistencies for that matter) be sure to tell me.

So yeah, please review if you took the time to read the chapter. Always welcomed and appreciated. Oh, and I found this totally awesome Hinata/Naruto doujinshi on the net. Super cute, so cool, and super well drawn. Comment if you'd like me to PM you the link.

Kakashi and Zabuza are busy killing one another, but what about the rest? Haku betrays her employer and tells the gang where Gato is hiding out, but waiting for them is Gato's secret weapon: a giant freaking robot. It's fight time between team Konoha and –wait a second. A GIANT FREAKING ROBOT? WHAT THE HELL? All this and more in the appropriately entitled **Chapter Eighteen**: **A Giant Freaking Robot? What the Hell?**


	18. Chapter 18

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I wish I owned Naruto. Then maybe I could afford to go to private university instead of a state college. Insert frowning face here. But I do own this story as small of a comfort as that may be.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Eighteen: Sharingan Unleashed! **

Kakashi's eyelid cracked open, flesh separated, and the gruesome scar that marred it peeled apart to reveal the eye lurking beneath. The orb was blood crimson, and the retina, an island of darkness in the sea of red, was surrounded by a perimeter of black, comma-like markings -tomoes. The markings rotated around the retina erratically, and the entire eye twitched, glancing back and forth, breaking tandem with Kakashi's normal eye. It was almost as if the eye, the Sharingan, was a separate entity independent of its owner, a second persona implanted into the body of the white-haired Jounin.

But Kakashi did not seem perturbed by this. He was more occupied with controlling the Sharingan and the powers they granted. A whirlwind of thoughts and images bombarded Kakashi's as his magic eye further opened his mind to the world beyond, and it took all of his past training with the Sharingan to safely manage this influx of information. Things Kakashi would never notice were immediately picked up by his hidden eye –the smallest cracks in the floor, the faults in the bridge's supporting columns, the most miniscule specks of water left behind on the ground –facts invisible to the normal eye were meticulously processed faster than Kakashi's mind could keep up with them.

That was one of the gifts of the Sharingan, the power of vision. Similar to the Byakugan, the Sharingan granted its user supernatural sight, allowing them to see what most could not. There was no detail too small or insignificant that the Sharingan could not observe, and this ability allowed the user to detect the barest of discrepancies in an enemy's illusionary technique, effectively dispelling them and rendering them useless. For a ninja who mastered in the arts of illusions, there was no greater enemy than a Sharingan wielder.

The water clones attacked, swords held ready to strike, but even with numbers in their favor they never really stood a chance against the infamous Konoha assassin. Using his magic eye, Kakashi already knew everything about them including their weaknesses. A point in the neck where water and chakra had not fully bonded, a weak connection in the left knee cap, a section of the arm not fully formed –all were fragile spots that Kakashi immediately took advantage of.

The first clone swung his sword at Kakashi. The nimble Jounin leapt clear of the blade, and delivered a devastating kick to the middle of the replication's arm. Immediately the aquatic limb was knocked off and set soaring through the air amidst a spray of mist. Confused, Zabuza's clone only had a second to realize his doom before Kakashi put his fist through the unfortunate replication's head.

The real Zabuza made no move to attack. He stood in the background watching the battle while the second of his clones met the same fate as the first. Kakashi was too fast for the clone and quickly severed the water replication's left leg before finishing the job with a spin kick to the head.

The third replication, a witness to the demise of his comrades, turned and tried to retreat to the safety of his master. But Kakashi showed no mercy. Leaping gracefully through the air, the white haired Jounin intercepted the fleeing clone, and in one swift blow, neatly chopped the clone's head off with the blade side of his hand. The headless body remained standing for a moment, bleeding torrents of water from its neck, and then finally melted away into a large, formless puddle.

The severed head rolled across the floor and came to a stop at Kakashi's feet. The Konoha Jounin glanced down at it, and then, looking meaningfully at Zabuza, stamped his foot on Zabuza's clone's decapitated head. It felt like stepping on a balloon, the odd satisfying sensation punctuated by a chilly spray of water that soaked his leggings.

"My turn," Kakashi growled. He raised his right hand for Zabuza to see, and then with a muttered incantation, a small fire sprang to life around it. They were blue chakra flames, a sign of when a ninja used their energy to perform techniques or skills. Normally, however, the fire was faint, barely visible like when a ninja latched themselves to a tree. The clearer the flame, the more chakra was being molded.

Zabuza stared in awe as the flicker of blue flames enveloping Kakashi's hand grew brighter and more intense with each passing second, as if the chakra based fire was fueled by the flesh it surrounded. But the white-haired Jounin's hand remained unscathed as the conflagration spread further down his wrist, encasing his entire arm in its roaring blaze. Bolts of crackling electricity sprung from the pyre and wrapped around his arm, and suddenly, a symphony of shrill sound rent the morning silence asunder. An endless repetition of piercing noises, it was like that of a chorus of chirping birds; the sound amplified until it resonated clearly in the ears of all those around it.

The red eye, the magical eye so contorted with rage and hate, stared across the bridge, never straying from the target of its antagonism, the man it had vowed to destroy. Kakashi shifted his weight onto his left leg and dropped into a crouch, and as he did so, his free hand encircled the wrist surrounded by the blazing chakra, the gauntleted hand closing around the naked flames as if they did not exist. There was no haste in his movement, no rush or indication of the careless aloofness that normally characterized the enigmatic Hatake Kakashi. There was only cold precision to his actions, purpose underlining each motion, each breath.

Zabuza dared not blink lest he miss it. Surprisingly, his mind was devoid of fear. Instead, the chill that traveled down his spine was born of excitement, and the cold sweat dripping down his brow was the product of anticipation. Only a mad man would not be afraid of the deadly aura radiating from the Sharingan using ninja, but perhaps that was exactly why Zabuza felt no fear. He did not shun death. He lived for it.

Responding to the unspoken invitation, Kakashi charged forward. With chakra pulsating through his legs, accelerating his movement, he disappeared in a blur of incoherent motion, and it was only the brief flicker of blue light from the flames encircling his arm that hinted to where he was. The distance between the two ninjas was closed in the blink of an eye, and with an inhuman roar, Kakashi struck.

"Lightening Edge!"

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Finally reconnected my hard drive, but I'm having trouble recovering some of the information. Namely the latter half of Chapter Eighteen. I wanted to post a little something, particularly since I haven't updated in like two months. Chapter nine teen will be along hopefully soon. 

But I haven't been completing slacking off. I started work on a new Naruto fanfiction that I haven't quite figured out if I want to continue. Here's the preview of it. Tell me what you think. Like the premise? Should I continue with it? Change bits of it?

* * *

New Ninjas: Next Generation  
By: JAJapster  
Summary: last ninja war is over, and the ninja population has been devestated. The Hidden Villages have been wiped out or scattered, and it's up to Uzumaki Naruto to unite them. With the aid of his companions, Naruto must rebuild an international academy for potential ninjas, and then teach them to control their unique gifts. Featuring a grownup Naruto cast and a host of OC's (Inspired by New X-Men). 

**Chapter One: Propositions**

Naruto was nervous. Every subtle gesture, every facial tick that the blonde-haired ninja made radiated the anxiety he kept bottled inside. He had a good reason to be nervous though, Haruno Sakura conceded. This was probably only one of most defining moment in history in over three hundred years, and Naruto was responsible for making sure it happened without a hitch. He had to be calm, or at least pretend to be for his audience, over fifty of the most respected village elders from around the world. He had to make sure he revealed no insecurities, no reason for anyone to doubt his motives or intents, and at the same time relay the resolve and determination that would see his proposition through. It was a lot of emotions to suppress and juggle, particularly for a boy who used to be one spontaneous outburst away from being prescribed sedatives by the school nurse.

Sakura sat in a chair several rows back from the small dais in which Naruto stood before the assembly of elders. His hands were folded neatly behind his back and his face portrayed nothing, but she could easily sense in unease. It had nothing to do with her heightened sense of perception that her ninja background offered; she just knew Naruto well enough to see through whatever facade he erected. While twelve years on the same squad might have taught Sakura more about Naruto than she ever wanted to know, it had also taught her how to read him like a book. And right now, Naruto was definitely nervous.

"Captain Uzumaki Naruto, we've invited you to speak before the council of elders because I understand you have a proposition to make." That speaker was an older man with spectacles who, judging from his authoritative manner and his seat near the front of the room, was one of the heads of the council.

"Yes, Elder Funai. Thank you for allowing me to speak today." Naruto replied. He cleared his throat and looked around the room. Sakura gave him an encouraging wink and Naruto grinned in return.

"The world had just emerged from a costly war," Naruto said. "Not only to Konoha where I come from, but also to every other nation in the world. Millions of lives have been lost in the process, and the ninja, the backbone of each of our militaries have been reduced to almost nothing. The Hidden Villages have either been destroyed outright in the fighting or scattered, and I and a handful of others, are all that remain of the ninja."

Sakura frowned. It was a good opening, but it offered nothing new to the elders. The war, the last great Ninja War as people were calling it, had wracked havoc on the world for the last five years as the Hidden Villages declared total war on one another. Their non-ninja allies, the towns, cities, and nations, from which they originated, the people they were supposed to protect, were dragged into the mess, and relentless bloodshed had been the result. Only three months had a cease fire been declared in the wake of ground breaking negotiation between some of the key village elders, and a unified world had gradually emerged. The Hidden Villages, however, were not so fortunate.

Before the Ninja War began there had been around one-hundred thousand ninjas divided amongst the six primary Hidden Villages, Rock, Fire, Sound, Leaf, Mist, and Sand. When peace was finally declared, only Konoha's Hidden Village remained standing, and liberal estimates of the ninja population had been reduced to two-hundred at most. In short, less than one percent of the ninja survived the war. Given those statistics, Sakura was lucky to be alive.

Many of Naruto and Sakura's friends, however, had not been as lucky.

"The ninja are on the brink of extinction." Naruto said. "And if we do not act quickly, soon there won't be any at all."

"And maybe we don't want them back!"

The shrill voice cut through the room like a knife, causing many heads to turn and look at the speaker. Sitting next to Elder Funai was a small man with frizzy white hair. He was dressed in a lavish green robe, and in his wrinkled hands was a walking cane. Sakura's eyes narrowed angrily. His name was Elder Tamazaki, a seedy politician and definitely not a friend of the ninja.

"If it weren't for the ninja we wouldn't have gone to war in the first place!" Tamazaki shrieked. "What the hell makes you think we want more of them? What makes you think we want to even tolerate you, you demonic fox bastard!"

Pandemonium ensued. Elders rose from their chairs and began screaming at one another. Sakura remained sitting, watching Naruto carefully. Much to his credit, he looked unphased by the insult, almost as if he had been expecting it. Or maybe he was just used to it. The elders, on the other hand, were livid. Many were screaming in outraged protest at Elder Tamazaki's inflammatory remark, but Sakura couldn't help but noticing that an equal amount were voicing support for Tamazaki. Most of the older Elders were supporters of the ninja. They remembered the ninja as guardians, but the younger generation viewed the ninjas as trouble makers and inciters of a war that killed millions of villagers. It was a very popular opinion amongst the youth, and Sakura wasn't entirely opposed to it either.

After all, it was more or less the truth.


	19. Chapter 19

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I wish I owned Naruto. Then maybe I could afford to go to private university instead of a state college. Insert frowning face here. But I do own this story as small of a comfort as that may be.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Nineteen**: **A Giant Freaking Robot? What the Hell?**

They found Gato's warehouse on the outskirts of the city. Secreted away in a small forest lining the dirt path leading away from Kakami, the warehouse was a simplistic looking wooden structure that looked like it had been abandoned for years. Its green paint was chipping, and traces of rot and rust beneath testified to its general state of unused, but nonetheless the tracks the team of young Genin had been following had let straight to it. It seemed uncharacteristic of Gato to select such a dilapidated hideout when he could be hiding in such plush, luxurious safe house. Maybe he was just wising up now that he knew ninjas were after him. Not that it did him much good anyway. Even with his unexpected change in habit, following the tracks Gato had left behind had been child's play, a fact that Naruto quickly pointed out upon their arrival.

"That was a little too easy," Naruto commented warily. "It almost felt like someone was going out of their way to make it easy for us to find this place."

For once Sasuke actually agreed with his blonde-haired companion. This in its own right was startling, never mind that Naruto had managed to deduce a rational observation on his own. Maybe the idiot was actually smarter than he appeared. The young Uchiha frowned. No, giving Naruto any credit as far as his intelligence went would be to defunct some fundamental, world governing principle. The sky would always be blue and Naruto would always be a loud mouthed moron. Hinata had probably helped Naruto in coming to that conclusion. That was the only logical explanation aside from intervention of the divine sort –and Sasuke was not a particularly religious person to begin with.

But yes, it had been far too easy to find the warehouse. Footsteps were left unconcealed, scents widely scattered –the only way it could have been simpler was if Gato had hung a giant, neon sign declaring his residence there. Sasuke knew Gato was not the cleverest of cats, but this blatant carelessness in hiding his tracks border lined on complete mental retardation. That left two viable solutions: either Gato really was stupid, or this was all a trap.

"They were waiting for us at the bridge," Neji said to Sasuke from where he was crouched behind a nearby boulder. "It makes sense they're waiting for us now."

Sasuke acknowledged the other boy's opinion with a nod of his head. "Can you use your Byakugan to see inside?"

For a moment, Sasuke wondered whether or not Neji would resent being ordered around. After all, they were rivals, and Kakashi leaving Sasuke in charge of their team had to hurt Neji's ego a little. But as always, the long-haired ninja was all business and immediately obeyed. Neji concentrated for a moment, focusing his chakra into his eyes, but then shook his head. "No, the walls are lined with some type of ward. I can't see through them."

Another frown crossed Sasuke's face. Gato had defended his safe house particularly against the Hyuga clan's Byakugan which meant he knew about the Konoha mission and the members it was comprised of. This, of course, could mean he was hiding inside with an army at hand or maybe he had booby trapped the warehouse anticipating that they would blindingly stumble into it.

Either way, this was their best lead. The only way to find out for sure what was going on would be to move in and spring whatever manner of trap awaited them.

"Alright, we're going to go in." The young Uchiha said. He gestured towards Naruto. "Naruto, you and I are going to go in first." He paused, and then added, "Don't do anything stupid."

Naruto gave Sasuke a dirty look and an equally dirty hand gesture. Sasuke smirked. While Neji might have had the professionalism to set aside classroom rivalries for the sake of business, that was of course far too much to expect from Naruto. Sasuke was positive Naruto took Kakashi's selection of team leader as a personal affront. He would have to keep an eye on Naruto; there was really no telling what the idiot might do when trapped in an anger fueled, irrational state of mind…or more irrational than usual anyway.

"Sakura, I want you to follow with Hinata." Sasuke continued. However, Sakura did not reply. Annoyed, he turned back to where Sakura was crouched down guarding their backs and snarled, "Sakura!"

Sakura's response was an icy glare followed by a terse, "Yeah, fine."

Sakura's reaction was not entirely unexpected after her tirade the day before, but her cold shoulder still irritated Sasuke. Why couldn't she understand that his callous, devaluing treatment of her had been for the good of the mission? They had rescued Kiba and Akamaru, and were now only moments away from taking down Gato too. Things were going great, so why was Sakura still so mad at him?

_Girls are so self-centered sometimes_, Sasuke thought.

Still, there was a little part of him, some miniscule inkling of guilt that urged him to properly apologize. Sakura had played an instrumental role in their success after all. At the very least, maybe he would commend her for her part after this was all done.

"Neji and Tenten," Sasuke said to the two team mates. "Patrol this area. If Gato is inside and makes a break for it, I want to make sure he's taken care of."

Neji and Tenten nodded and then departed through the underbrush. If either of them were disappointed at being excluded from a major raid like this, Sasuke certainly had not noticed. It made him vaguely suspicious that the two might actually be enthusiastic about getting a chance at some private time in the woods together.

He shook his head, ridding him of the thought. Both of them were far too professional. Besides, wasn't Neji gay? The rumor was not confirmed, but as far as Sasuke's opinion was concerned, there was no way any male could dedicate themselves to making their hair as silky and perfect as Neji's without their sexuality being suspected.

Following Sasuke's hand signals, Naruto lined up on one side of the warehouse door and Sasuke did likewise on the other side. Naruto pulled out a plain looking tag from his utility pouch and slapped it across the rusty barricade. A second later, the piece of paper began to smoke, and then the edges caught aflame. A soft sizzling noise filled the air as the tag was slowly consumed by the fire, and simultaneously, just as the last bits were devoured by the flames, Sasuke and Naruto turned away from the door.

The tag detonated in a giant ball of flames, ripping the door of its hinges and casting it through the air amidst a shower of embers and smoldering brick. The moment the smoke started to clear, Naruto and Sasuke were through the door, kunai drawn and prepared for battle. The interior of the warehouse was as voluminous as the outside suggested, cavernous and barren, and in the center rested a large, bulky form hidden by the white cloth draped over it.

They spotted their quarry almost immediately. Standing in the middle of the warehouse floor, a looking of flabbergasted disbelief on his fat face, was Gato. He opened his mouth to spout out some enraged protest of defiance, but before he could, Sakura and Hinata jumped through the charred doorway and fanned out, forming an ensnaring semi around the old crime lord.

"By the law enforcement of the Hidden Village of Konoha, you are under arrest Gato." Sasuke said. "Surrender peacefully and you will not be harmed."

Gato was livid, his face red and his small body quivering with rage. "How dare you! How dare you!" he screamed repeatedly, jabbing an accusing finger at Sasuke. "Do you know who I am? Do you little punks have any idea who you're messing with?"

"Put your hands in the air," Sasuke continued over Gato's protests. There was a page long manual on how to legally arrest a suspect that all Genin memorized, but at the moment it was taking all of the young Uchiha's patience to recall it even some of it accurately with a wizened midget's shrill screeching echoing in his hears. "And get on your knees."

"I'll kill you!" Gato's tirade persisted. "I'll find your families and I'll kill them too! All of yours!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. This was starting to really annoy him. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of-"

"And don't think you girls will be safe!" the mobster yelled at Hinata and Sakura. "Oh dear me no! You two will get it worst of all! I'm going to have fun using your bodies before I have you-"

Something blurred past Gato's ear, and the gangster screeched and collapsed to the ground. He was writhing on the floor, screaming in agony and clutching his head where a rivulet of blood was trickling down the side of his face. Surprised, Sasuke glanced around at his team mate, and it took a second for him to realize that Naruto was smiling with grim satisfaction. He also wasn't holding his kunai anymore.

"That was inappropriate, Naruto," Sasuke hissed.

Naruto shrugged. He stepped over Gato, and removed his kunai from a wooden pole where it had embedded itself in. Wiping the blood dripping from it clean on his pants, Naruto stalked back to his team leader. "Someone here had to have some balls," he retorted. "And I know you and Gato sure don't."

Sasuke fixed the other ninja with a deadly look that would've made even the toughest men in Konoha hesitate, but Naruto merely returned the icy glare. Their fists clenched. It was obvious to Sakura and Hinata that this wasn't just another boyish squabble, but a very real conflict that could dissolve into blows at any moment. Neither of the two boys, however, was willing to commit just yet, both reluctant to throw the first punch.

"Guys…" Hinata whispered fearfully. She didn't want to see two of her comrades fight and she hated the idea of either getting hurt. Frightened, she searched for the words to help diffuse this stand off, but none came readily. Fortunately, Sakura chose then to speak up.

"Stop it you two!" She yelled. With all the mannerism of a peeved parent disciplining a set of petulant children, Sakura swatted Naruto and Sasuke on the head. It was a hard hit too judging by the pained grimaces that flashed across their faces. "We're on a mission, remember?"

Even though Hinata still had yet to fully forgive Sakura for kissing Naruto in the hospital, the young Hyuga could not help but feeling grateful by the pink-haired ninja's timely intervention. Fortunately, the blows must have helped the boy's regain their senses, and they reluctantly backed away from one another.

"We'll settle this later." Sasuke snapped.

"Count on it." Naruto shot back.

But in all the confusion created by the two rivals' confrontation, none of the Genin had kept an eye on Gato, and when Sasuke finally did divert his attention back to the crime lord, a vehement curse escaped his lips. He spun around, kunai leaping to hand as he spotted Gato fumbling for something metallic in his pocket. The ninja knife rocketed through the air and neatly knocked the metal object from Gato's clutches, but instinctively Sasuke knew he was already too late. Gato had taken full advantage of their distraction, and whatever he needed to do with the device in his pocket was undoubtedly accomplished.

A loud electronic beep echoed in the giant warehouse.

"What the hell?" Naruto wondered aloud. Gato chuckled, a mocking sound that degenerated into an insane sort of giggle. The blonde-haired ninja gave the crime lord a cold look. "What's so funny?"

Naruto's answer was quickly answered. The sound of grinding gears filled the air, a chaotic sort of _whirring _noise that resonated off the walls of the empty building. The figure hidden beneath the blanket shuddered, rising and falling off the ground as the raucous clash of gears continued. From beneath the white blanket, the Genin espied a set of huge feet, metallic and shiny, definitely not made of flesh. Then, the hidden figure stood, and in a blast of steam that billowed from the feet of the creature, the drape obscuring the mechanical beast was blown away.

"Holy god…" Sakura whispered in awe.

Standing before the Genin was a twelve foot tall biped creature. It bore the vague resemblance of a human in the sense that it had two arms and legs, and a box-like object that they guessed served as a head, but the rest of the creature was a patchwork of shimmering sensor emplacements, armor plating, and a vast array of incredibly deadly looking turret like contraptions. With another mechanical whir, the creature's torso rotated and its head came to face the Konoha ninjas.

Naruto blinked and then laughed. "What the hell? A giant freaking robot? You have to be kidding me, Gato. Was this your ace in the hole? Couldn't you have at least come up with something more original?"

Gato glowered at the blonde ninja, unhappy about the disrespect shown towards his robot. "This is the Bodyguard 5000. It has state of the art tracking devices, four rapid firing arrow shooters, emergency…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Naruto said. "I'm sure it makes breakfast too. Can we just go ahead and kill it now?"

While Naruto was being taunting Gato, Sasuke made rapid hand gestures for the rest of the team to disperse. He had been caught unaware by Gato's backup plan, a robot of all things. It was unusual for someone to pit a machine against a ninja –the idea just seemed ludicrous to begin with- but pausing to think Sasuke realized that none of them had any real formal training fighting against a mechanical creature. What could they expect of its armor? Of its attack capabilities? And most importantly, that nagging question that had been bother Sasuke, where the hell did Gato get a god damn robot? A Saturday morning cartoon?

"Kill them!" Gato screamed.

"No, it's us that should be saying that." Naruto corrected. "Or more specifically, we should be saying kill _it _as we'd be only killing one thing. Or we could say –holy crap!"

Faster than the eye could follow, an arrow launched from the robot's gun and tore past Naruto's face. The initial shock sedated the pain, creating a dull sensation in Naruto's head as he gingerly touched his cheek. His fingers returned slick with blood.

"Move, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto needed no second invitation. He dove for cover behind a set of nearby boxes, cringing as the arrows plunged through the thin wood and impaled themselves in the concrete only inches away. He scrambled to his feet and ran, head ducked low as he comically dashed from one source of cover to the next. A red infrared dot emitted from the robot's missile turrets followed Naruto's fleeing form relentlessly, painting the Konoha ninja for another deadly attack whenever he made the mistake of hesitating for even a second too long. The rainstorm of arrows bore down on the scurrying ninja like a pack of hornets converging on their prey, but either by luck or skill, Naruto was managing to stay one step ahead of the deadly onslaught.

_But for how much longer? _Sasuke grimly wondered.

His question was answered almost immediately when Naruto's foot slipped and he tripped onto the floor. He quickly scrambled back to his feet, but even with his ninja reflexes he couldn't avoid the robot's infrared aiming dot. It centered on the young ninja's torso, and as soon as its target was locked in, the robot's turrets swiveled around and fired, unleashing a hailstorm of deadly arrows to home onto Naruto.

"Naruto!" Sakura shrieked. "Get out of there!"

A horrible sensation erupted in the pit of Sasuke's stomach. The moment Naruto had tripped he knew something like this was inevitable. Already Sasuke had calculated the optimal trajectory, accuracy, and speed of the robot's arsenal, and the moment the arrows were launched, the young Uchiha knew Naruto didn't stand a chance of dodging them. Thinking quickly, Sasuke reached into his utility pouch and hurled a handful of shruiken into the air. He was the best shruiken thrower in his year -if anyone could pull this off it would be him.

The whirling ninja stars intercepted the arrow's path, deflecting most of them harmlessly aside in a shower of sparks, but a few passed by unobstructed. Cursing, Sasuke reached for more shruikens. It was a futile gesture. The remaining arrows were moving far too fast for there to be any hope of stopping them now. Even a prodigy like Sasuke couldn't accomplish the impossible.

Then again, he didn't need to. Hinata had it covered. It should have occurred to Sasuke earlier that Hinata would be watching Naruto's back; after all, everyone knew she was madly in love with him for some strange reason. It only made sense she would be keeping a vigilant eye on him in the thick of battle. Moments before the arrows struck Naruto, Hinata dashed forward and without hesitation, without a hint of embarrassment, wrapped her arms around Naruto and shielded her friend with her own body.

Naruto stared at surprise at Hinata. Her arms tightly around his waist, her face buried in his chest, the warmth of her body pressed against his -he could only gaze down at the top of her head in amazement. "Hinata..." he whispered."What are you doing?"

She looked at him, and Naruto noticed her eyes had changed. They were no longer pearly and clear, but glowing, and the veins on either side of her eyes pulsated as chakra poured into them. Her Byakugan had been activated. She smiled and said, "Trust me."

_What are you two doing..._Sasuke wondered. He grimaced as the arrows smashed into the two ninjas, but they never got close enough to any damage. They stopped inches before touching either of them, and were knocked aside as if they had run into an invisible wall. And they had sort of. Looking closer, Sasuke noticed the vague outline of a shimmering, blue dome surrounding Naruto and Hinata.

"A chakra shield..." Sakura muttered. "Amazing."

Sasuke agreed. He had never seen someone mold their chakra into a physical shield. A ninja would have to have a mastership of their chakra control to wield their powers in such a fashion. But now was not the time for congratulations. Turning to the two ninjas, he snapped, "Move it you two! Get out of there!"

Before the robot got a chance to shoot, Hinata and Naruto quickly leaped back to stand beside Sasuke and Sakura. Their team leader took stock of their situation, grateful for the opportunity to regroup. They had been caught off guard, and the first exchange of blows had not gone well. No had been hurt yet, but that would change quickly if they weren't more careful in the future. Gato's metal monster turned around to face them, its turret ready to fire again.

Sasuke had just about enough of taking crap from this giant bucket of bolts. It was time to take it down.

"Alright guys," Sasuke said. "I have a plan."

* * *

Author's Note:  
Not real happy with this chapter. Or this story arc for that matter. C'mon. When giant robots start showing up you know the creativity well has been tapped dry. I can't wait till it's over truth be told. But I need to finish this up well first. Hopefully I'll have it done within the next few chapters. 

Tell me what you guys think! I know I haven't updated in a while, but I hope I haven't lost any readers during my hiatus. Every time you read a story and don't review, God kills a kitty. Think of the kitties. Thanks!


	20. Chapter 20

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I wish I owned Naruto. Then maybe I could afford to go to private university instead of a state college. Insert frowning face here. But I do own this story as small of a comfort as that may be.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twenty: Finishing…Stuff**

Momochi Zabuza was no stranger to pain. As one of the Mist Village's top ANBU operatives, he'd been stabbed, shot, drowned, electrocuted, immolated, etc. more times than he could count. Getting hurt went hand in hand with dealing out the hurt, though admittedly, the latter was far more enjoyable. But all the same, nothing could have prepared him for the level of sheer agony of someone brutally stabbing their hand in his shoulder, ripping through layer upon layer of bone, muscle, and flesh, and then ripping their hand back out again in a spray of blood. He went blind for a moment, the blurred image of Hatake Kakashi holding his hand, now covered in Zabuza's gore, burned into his memory. It had happened all too fast. One second Kakashi was standing several meters away, a blaze of blue electricity encircling his arm, and then the next, a sharp, stabbing pain exploded in Zabuza's mind.

Zabuza roared in pain and staggered backward, blood dripping on the ground as he stumbled away. The acrid stench of burnt flesh was everywhere, stemming from the charred mess of burnt muscle and sinew that remained of his shoulder. Kakashi, that bastard, had actually transformed his hand into a sword of chakra and stabbed it into Zabuza's arm, destroying everything that stood in its way. Flesh, muscle, bone –it made no difference to the razor sharp blade of Kakashi's Lightening Edge technique.

"Raiken," Kakashi snarled, shaking his hand free of Zabuza's blood. "Bitch."

Despite the pain, Zabuza gave a shaky laugh. "Raiken, huh? You didn't have that the last time we fought. But you know, you're not the only one who has a few tricks up their sleeve."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Suddenly, the Konoha assassin detected movement from behind. His eyes widened in surprise. No one could sneak up on him. His sense of detection was exceptional, even amongst ninjas. Sneaking up on him was theoretically impossible, but there was no mistaking the sudden presence behind him. Swiftly, he whirled around to come face to face with Zabuza, or more precisely, one of his water clones. His Sharingan told him the chakra distribution was too imprecise to be the real renegade ninja, but that couldn't be possible. He had destroyed all of Zabuza's clones…hadn't he?

"Like this." The clone said with a vicious grin. A kunai appeared in its hand and before Kakashi could dodge, it plunged the blade deep into Kakashi's right arm and twisted.

Kakashi gritted his teeth, willing down the urge to scream in agony, and instead allowed his ninja training to take over. Ignoring the pain, he reached around and grabbed the clone's head, and in one brutal motion, ripped it clean off its neck. Only after the headless clone melted into a puddle did Kakashi allow himself to remove the knife from his bleeding arm.

"You hid a duplicate in the fog," Kakashi noted, tossing the bloody knife aside. "Clever." He sighed and tried to lift his wounded arm, but, as he suspected, it refused to move. The clone had severed a key muscle when he plunged its knife in Kakashi's arm, rendering the limb completely useless.

"So now what, Kakashi?" Zabuza asked. "Your arm is paralyzed. My arm is paralyzed. We can't use any hand seals or techniques. Looks like we're in a stale mate."

Kakashi lowered his head band, covering his Sharingan again. Using his Hidden Eye for even a brief period of time was incredibly draining, and he hadn't even used the Sharingan's advanced techniques yet. Glaring at Zabuza with only one eye now, he said, "I still have two good legs and one good arm. More than enough for you."

"Is that so?"

Kakashi reached into his vest and removed a kunai, and in response, Zabuza brought his massive sword to bear once again. Silently the two ninjas glared across the bridge at one another, eyeing their opponent critically for any visible weakness, and mentally preparing for the next clash.

"Let's finish this," Kakashi said.

* * *

"…and that's the plan," concluded Sasuke. "What do you guys think?"

The moment he asked that, he regretted it. He didn't want anyone's opinion because he already knew his plan was sound, and asking for feedback was only an invitation for someone to voice their moronic take on a flawless strategy. Sakura and Hinata were smart enough to see the wisdom in Sasuke's plan and nodded in agreement. Naruto, on the other hand, had his own two cents to add, two cents that Sasuke could really have gone without.

"That has to be the dumbest plan I've ever heard." Naruto sneered.

Sasuke groaned and had to force himself not to reach out and strangle the blonde-haired ninja. It would have been too easy. But now was not the time. Cautiously, Sasuke peered out from behind the boxes that he and the other Genin had taken cover behind. Gato's robot was stomping noisily around the warehouse, chasing after a hoard of Naruto's clones as they scampered about, screeching in terror as razor arrows impaled them left and right. Sasuke grinned as an arrow tore through one of the shadow clone's head, causing it to vanish in a cloud of smoke. If he couldn't kill the real thing, the very least Sasuke could do was derive pleasure from watching Naruto clones die agonizing deaths.

"Too bad," Sasuke told Naruto as he ducked back behind the boxes. "I'm in charge. Now get going."

Naruto scowled, but his angry demeanor softened when Hinata reached and touched his hand. Her message was clear. _Be careful, _she saidHe grinned broadly and gave Hinata a confident thumbs up. _I will, _he replied.

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" Naruto bellowed, forming the appropriate hand seals. "Mass Shadow Replication!"

An explosion of smoke erupted around Naruto, covering him in a billowing cloud of dense dust and ash. When it settled, crouching beside the original Naruto were now a dozen of the same blonde-haired ninja, identical down to their roguish grins and whisker-like streaks on their face. They each grabbed a kunai from their holster.

"Let's go, team!" Naruto yelled. With that, they rushed from their hiding place, a wordless battle cry on their lips as they charged towards the robot.

Immediately the robot began firing. A hailstorm of lethal arrows tore through Naruto's clones, destroying half of them. However, the survivors leaped onto the robot and began smashing their kunai into the robot's thick metal hull. It was a pointless gesture. The kunai barely scratched the mechanical beasts' thick armor, but that didn't stop Naruto and his clone army. Screaming curses and threats, they hacked away at the robot with an unparalleled ferocity, oblivious to their assaults complete lack of effect.

"Sakura, go!" Sasuke yelled. "Hinata, back her up!"

The pink-haired ninja rushed out and ran towards the robot. The robot looked at Sakura, and then back at the hoard of replications harassing its armor. It looked puzzled, indecisive about who to attack. Finally, it settled on Sakura. Its infrared dot swerved away from the army of Narutos and landed on the pink-haired ninja, and without any further hesitation, opened fire. But again, Hinata was watching her friends back. Leaping ahead of Sakura, she deflected the arrows with her chakra shield, giving Sakura a free run at Gato's metal bodyguard.

It was said that each ninja had their own unique gift. Sometimes it was a Bloodline limit like Hinata's Byakugan. Sometimes it was a weird genetic mutation. Or sometimes it was just an area of specialization that the ninja had adopted, perfected, and then became a master of. For Sakura, it was the last one. Her innate strength was an uncanny chakra control, the ability to manipulate her chakra so perfectly that it could be allocated without any waste. Strangely enough, it also endowed her with freakishly supernatural strength, something which she was about to prove.

Sakura jumped into the air, high above the robot's head, and then rocketed back to the ground, her fist leading the way. She punched the ground with the force of a thousand sledge hammers, shattering the concrete into fragments and rocking the entire foundation of the warehouse. Boxes spilled over, supporting beams collapsed, and the warehouse shuddered as the shocking impact ripped through the building. With the floor shattered at the robot's feet, it could no longer maintain its balance and pitched backward. It landed on its back with a loud _clang._

Sasuke smiled. His plan utilized each of his team member's strengths: Naruto's Shadow Replication Technique, Hinata's chakra shield, and Sakura's strength. Now it was his turn. Grabbing his hand, he unleashed his chakra. Blue flames leaped around his arm, and then, a cackling ball of electricity formed in his hands. It was Kakashi's secret technique. Now it was Sasuke's. _Chidori. _The young Uchiha lunged forward, pouring chakra into his feet to make his feet move faster. He closed the distance between him and the robot in the blink of an eye, a trail of electricity forming behind him, and with a loud cry, he plunged his fist into the robot's torso.

Kakashi was right. Nothing could withstand the might of Sasuke's Chidori. Sasuke's hand ripped through the armor like it didn't exist, penetrating deep inside the robot's stomach until Sasuke could reach no further. Grinning viciously, he reached inside and grabbed hold of the robot's internal wiring. A single tug ripped them out. They flailed in the air, like snakes dancing wildly to a piper's tune, bleeding a shower of electric sparks as the robot's lifeblood drained away.

The light in the robot's eyes flickered, and its arms flailed wildly, like the death spasms of dying animal. Its legs kicked meaninglessly, and then, with a loud whine, the lights faded and its mechanical limbs went still.

"That's right," Sasuke spat. The electricity around his arm had faded, and with it, most of his energy. He felt lightheaded and exhausted, and wearily, he collapsed to his knees.

Sakura rushed to her friend's aide. "Sasuke!" she cried.

Suddenly, a chill ran down Sasuke's spin, dispelling his fatigue and causing every nerve to perk up in alarm. Something wasn't right. He didn't know what it was, but some sixth sense of him told him the danger wasn't over yet. "Sakura!" he yelled. "Get back!"

Sakura stopped in her tracks a few feet away from Sasuke, confused. She took a step back and no sooner had she done so, the robot's eyes lit up one last time. It was only for the briefest of seconds, one final breath of air before death, but a dying killer robot was still a killer robot. With its last second of functionality, its computer chip of a brain told its leg to blindly lash out straight ahead…right at Sakura's face.

Very rarely did Sasuke do things without thinking. He submitted to the laws of rationality. He did things for a reason. So he couldn't even begin to explain why he acted impulsively the moment he realized Sakura's life was in danger. Ignoring his exhaustion, Sasuke threw himself in front of Sakura, allowing his body to take the blow meant for Sakura.

It hurt like hell. He felt a rib break and his right arm shatter under the force of the robot's mighty blow. Blood spurted from his lips as he cried out in pain. His vision blurred. He could hear Sakura scream. His body flew through the air and hit the ground, the impact jarring his senses. A sheet of darkness was descending over his eyes, and no matter how hard he struggled to fight it, it was quickly overtaking him.

The last thing he saw was Sakura staring down at his face. She was asking him something that the young Uchiha couldn't make out. Something wet landed on his lips, something salty. He realized Sakura was crying. But that was only typical of girls. They always cried unnecessarily all the time. Whatever injury he just sustained was bad, but he wasn't going to die.

Was he?

* * *

In the deranged mind of Momochi Zabuza, a ninja was meant for only one thing: killing. They were a machine of war, born and raised to fight and spill blood, and nothing else. Time had weakened the new age of ninjas. Ninjas were now protectors, guardians, and mediums of intervention. It was despicable how the proud heritage of the ninja, a sacred history of stealth assassinations and bloody wars, had been sullied by those too weak to preserve the sanctity of the ninja. But Zabuza was not one of those fallen ninjas, not one of those pale shadows of their former glory. He was a natural born killer, and so was Kakashi. They were old-school ninjas in a sense, assassins who still understood the thrill and excitement of mortal combat, and appreciated the spilling of blood.

Kakashi threw a wild haymaker into the side of Zabuza's head, knocking the renegade ninja to the ground in a mist of blood and sending his sword flying. But even dazed, Zabuza's reactions were sharp, and managed to land a kick in the white-haired Jounin's side. A loud _crack _filled the air as one of Kakashi's ribs collapsed under the force of Zabuza's blow, but the Konoha assassin remained on his feet. Clutching his side, Kakashi staggered back wearily, but Zabuza was content to let him go. He was in no rush to end this. No, he was enjoying every second of the fight, and he would continue to do so until one of them were dead.

This was what being a true ninja meant. Wounded, exhausted, they were still there, fighting and dying not because that was their job, but because they wanted to. Kakashi could easily withdraw and cite an injury as his excuse, and no one would blame him. But he would never turn and run while his enemy still breathed, and neither would Zabuza.

Kakashi's hand flashed, and a dozen shruiken soared through the air. Zabuza ducked underneath them, and Kakashi lunged forward. They exchanged blow after blow, parrying and deflecting punches and kicks as they danced up and down the length of the bridge. Overtime, their attacks began to slow as fatigue set in. Their movement grew sluggish, their reactions a fraction of a second less than what they should have been. Blood seeped from their wounds, mingling with their sweat and spilling on the concrete beneath their feet. But still they fought.

"Tired?" Zabuza taunted.

"Me?" Kakashi retorted, panting for breath. "Nah. I'm just getting warmed up. In fact, let me just get some –"

Suddenly the white-haired Jounin's eyes went wide. He grunted unintelligibly and staggered forward a step, his hands flailing wildly as if reaching for the back of his neck. His body trembled uncontrollably, and then with a loud gasp, Kakashi's eyes rolled back and he collapsed onto the ground. Impaled in back of his neck was a pair of throwing needles, and standing behind his unmoving form was a young girl in a green dress.

"Haku!" Zabuza roared.

Haku looked up at her master, a nervous look on her face. "I apologize, master. I couldn't leave you behind."

"What have you done?" shouted the renegade Mist Jounin, his eyes bulging with barely constrained rage.

"I don't have time to explain." Haku said. "I lead the children to Gato, and soon a team of Chunin from Konoha will arrive to apprehend him. We must leave immediately."

Zabuza shook his head. "No! Not until I've finished this fight with Kakashi!" A single glance at Kakashi told him the Konoha assassin wasn't dead, but just unconscious. Haku was an expert with her weapon and could incapacitate a target as easily as kill one. "Wake him up!"

"How?" Haku inquired. She gave a puzzled glance at Kakashi's unconscious body. "I suppose I could-" While Zabuza was distracted, her hand shot forward, and suddenly a needle materialized in the side of Zabuza's neck. He groaned, and like Kakashi a minute before, pitched to the ground, unconscious.

Haku frowned and felt a tinge of guilt at her betrayal. Zabuza would be furious once he awoke, but she couldn't let her master continue on this suicidal course of action. He would fight until death, and even if he managed to kill Kakashi, the team of Chunin would arrive in Kakami in a matter of minutes. No matter how powerful Zabuza was, he would never survive another fight in his wounded condition.

As for betraying Gato…she couldn't explain why she had participated in destroying his ambitions. It just felt right for some reason. Was she evil for betraying Gato, or was she good for doing so? A problem for another day.

Grunting in exertion as Haku pulled her master's hulking frame over her shoulder; she looked forlornly at the exiled Mist ninja. "Sorry, master." She whispered.

Several miles away, Neji looked perplexedly down at the unmoving form of the once feared crime lord, Gato, who lay on the forest floor unmoving. Tenten and he had spotted him running through the trees, screaming and cursing the world, ninjas, life, ninjas, and most importantly, ninjas. Something about robots too. Naturally the two had rushed to capture their fleeing fugitive.

Gato must've heard them approach because at one point he decided to look towards the forest canopy in search of his pursuers. Unfortunately for him, he neglected to keep a watch on where he was running, and five seconds later, collided head on with the stout trunk of an oak tree. Suffice to say, the oak tree won that little fracas.

Tenten gave her partner a wry glance and proceeded to apprehend the fat mobster.

All in all, it was a most anti-climatic ending to this trip.

But they were happy all the same. It was time to go home.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Whoops. Missed my deadline by three days. Sorry about that guys. I started working at Barnes and Noble this week and I've been super busy learning the ins and outs of ringing up purchases and dealing with irritable customers. So yeah, that's my excuse this time. Didn't do much of a proof read because I'm being lazy. Sorry. Frowns all around.

Anything else worth noting? No, not really. The lives of kittens are still being held in jeopardy, so please review.


	21. Chapter 21

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Flip it. Like a ninja. And copyright it. Like a ninja.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

Chapter Twenty-One: Winding Down

It was amazing how lonely the hospital corridors were. What was equally amazing, Hinata supposed, was how frequently she found herself in them, sitting on one of the cheap, plastic seats provided along the lengths of the hallway walls for visitors.

The team of Genin had arrived back in Konoha that afternoon and had been promptly rushed off for debriefing and medical care. Most of them had been released after the doctors declared them healthy, but Instructor Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto had been detained. Sasuke and Kakashi, obviously, were taken to the Emergency Wing to tend to their considerable wounds, and Naruto was held for a night for further observation by the medics.

The injury Naruto had suffered from Gato's robot was not serious, the medics had assured a worried Hinata when she had come to check up on Naruto, but there was a chance of infection. Her fears not entirely placated, Hinata decided to check on her friend personally, but there in lay the problem…

Hinata stared longingly at Naruto's hospital room door.

"Hey."

Even without turning around, Hinata could tell by the speaker's voice who the new comer was. Regardless, she glanced down the hallway and saw one of her male class mates approach. He was about a head taller than her with flaming red hair meticulously streaked with black highlights, and combined with his unnaturally pale skin and the plethora of leather belts and bandoliers he had strapped to his thin torso; he looked every part the emo-gothic, vampire incarnate. In his hands were a pack of playing cards that he continued to shuffle as he dropped into the plastic hospital chair beside Hinata.

"Hello, Kyo." Hinata whispered.

Takeda Kyo was one of Naruto's friends, but aside from that, Hinata knew very little about the young ninja. She had very few classes with him, none which really gave her any opportunity to get to know him. All she really did know was that he was a natural born trouble maker like Naruto, and that he never went anywhere without a deck of cards. The cards were his trademark, and appropriately, it was rumored he was an expert with them.

She stole a peek at him. He was looking straight ahead at the door leading to Naruto's hospital room, his hands mechanically riffling through the well worn deck of playing cards. She guessed he was good looking in a sort of gloomy, enigmatic sort of way. Not that was even remotely, romantically interested in him. No, that space in her heart was reserved for a certain, injured, blonde-haired, loud mouthed Genin that at the moment she couldn't summon the courage to go visit.

"Here to visit, Naruto?" He asked this with the implicit "_why aren't you visiting him now?" _that Hinata chose to ignore.

Hinata nodded. "Yes." Which meant _I'm too scared. _She didn't know why she couldn't overcome her shyness, especially after all the time she and Naruto had spent together during their mission to Kakami. It felt like she was back at square one all over again, completely capable of holding a normal conversation with any other guy in Konoha, but barely able to maintain a monosyllabic discourse with the man she adored.

"Waiting for something?" He asked, a slight grin on his lips. He wasn't stupid. All of Konoha High knew about Hinata's crush on Naruto…well almost all of it. Naruto still hadn't quite worked that one out yet, and it seemed none of his friends had let him in on the secret either.

Hinata shook her head, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "You can go ahead, Kyo."

_Coward, _Hinata thought woefully. _You can go toe-to-toe with a killer robot but saying hello to Naruto is too daunting of a task for the fearless Hyuga Hinata. Father would be ashamed. _

Kyo looked at her, the grin now completely evident on his lips. He shuffled his cards a few more times and then abruptly shoved the deck in front of Hinata's face. "Pick a card." He said.

"What?"

"Pick a card. If you get the high card, I'll go visit Naruto first, and you know what? I'll even get him to come out here so you won't have to go in there."

Hinata's eyes widened. "Really?" For some reason, the prospect of Naruto "accidentally" meeting her in the corridor was more appealing than having to brave the ten-foot walk to the door, opening it, and then saying hello. "You'd do that?"

Kyo nodded. "But if I get the high card, you have to stop being a baby and get in there."

She really should've been annoyed by that comment. After all, she was a member of the prestigious Hyuga family, and a common born ninja like Kyo had no business speaking to her like that. But she let it slide; partially because she was grateful that Kyo was even offering to help her, and also because the 'baby' comment was true.

"Choose the top card." Kyo prompted, offering her the deck.

Hinata hesitated. Kyo was a prankster like Naruto, so it only made sense that this was another one of his tricks. Chances were this was just an elaborate façade, and Kyo was going to trick her into visiting Naruto. Forcing her into an embarrassing situation like that would probably give him a good laugh.

_Two people can play the game. _She thought. Smiling craftily, she took the card offered but didn't look at it.

"Now I'm going to take mine," he pulled his card from the top of the deck, but before he could flip it over, Hinata snatched Kyo's card from his hands.

"Switch cards with me," she declared, handing her card to Kyo. "Just to make sure you're not cheating."

Kyo winced and covered his heart with his hands as if he had been stabbed. "You wound me with your scathing accusations, Hinata. But sure, if it makes you feel better, go ahead and switch."

Hinata flipped the card she had taken from Kyo over. "Ace of Hearts." She said with a triumphant smile. "I knew you were cheating."

"Was I?" wondered Kyo. Almost indolently, he turned the card Hinata had given him over. The Ace of Spades was staring up at Hinata. "Looks like I win." He swept his cards back into the rest of the deck, pocketed them, and with a gleeful wave, departed back down the hallway.

Hinata could only stare at disbelief as Kyo walked away. The probability of those cards coming out of the deck was so low it was almost impossible. In fact, it was impossible without a little magic touch from the red haired jester. Kyo had just conned her. Or more accurately, Hinata had conned herself.

_That cheating bastard, _she thought bitterly.

She sighed deeply and tried to still the trembling in her hands. A bet was a bet, and a Hyuga always remained faithful to their word. Slowly, she rose and walked to the door. There, she paused. Her heart was pounding erratically in her chest, fear and anticipation mingling together to produce the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Cautiously, she cracked the door open and peeked in. Naruto was sitting on his bed, a bandage across his right cheek, staring out the window into the setting sun. He smiled when he saw her, a radiant, charming smile that suddenly melted the icy fear residing within Hinata. It was incredible how something so simple as a smile could belay her worries and invite confidence at the same time. Hinata stepped inside the room and softly closed the door behind her.

This wasn't so hard. Maybe it never had.

"Hi, Naruto." She said.

* * *

It was all her fault. Staring down at Saske's unconscious body, that one, simple, accusatory message continued to haunt Sakura, lingering in her mind, an inescapable state of condemnation that wouldn't leave her alone. Everyone told her this wasn't her fault, that it wasn't by any of Sakura's doing that Sasuke was reduced to this comatose state, but despite the placating assurances of her friends, in the depths of her heart she knew they were lying. They were lying just like Naruto had lied the time she had almost killed him, lying to protect her from the damaging truth. But she wasn't fooled. She wasn't stupid. If Sasuke hadn't saved her from the death blow of Gato's gigantic robot, it would be her lying on the hospital bed, bandaged beyond recognition and hooked up to those eerie machines. Sasuke had sacrificed himself for her. Sakura supposed she should be feeling ecstatic right now that Sasuke cared for enough, as a friend and as a teammate, that he would endanger himself for her, but all she felt at the moment was overwhelming guilt. Sasuke was hurt, and it was all her fault. 

_I swore to protect you. _

There was a time back in middle school when Sakura and Ino, both rivals vying for Sasuke's affection, had gotten into a bitter argument about which of the two Sasuke liked better. It had ultimately boiled down to Sakura vowing that she would always protect Sasuke no matter, that she would be his protector even if it meant giving her life for his.

_So of course it was you who ended up protecting me._

She could almost hear Ino's taunting words. "You got Sasuke hurt! Now he'll never like you!" or "I would never get Sasuke injured! He'll like me better for sure!"

The sun was setting outside of Sasuke's hospital room, its dying rays filtering in through the single window beside the bed. She stood up and closed the curtains, bathing the room in a gloomy darkness that aptly accommodated Sakura's morose disposition. As she drew the curtains, her eyes lingered over Sasuke's unconscious body. Heavy bandages and splints covered most of his torso, and the variety of tubes that fed into his body was sickening to look upon.

The doctors had told her that none of Sasuke's injuries would life threatening, and that the coma was entirely medically induced. He would awake soon. And Sakura would be there waiting for him. But it was curious. Staring down at her life-long crush, a small spark of defiant obstinacy marred her otherwise state of regret. She felt awful that Sasuke had been hurt protecting her, but at the same time, some part of her was still angry as hell at him. He might have been a brilliant tactician and ninja, but there was no denying that Sasuke had betrayed Sakura's trust during their mission to Kakami. It was all so confusing. A friend would never had done what Sasuke had at the casino, gambling Sakura's life away on a game of cards, but at the same time, only a true friend would have sacrificed themselves for her also.

_So what are you, Uchiha Sasuke? _Sakura mused. _Are you a friend? Do I really love you?_

Had her entire relationship with Sasuke been built on some superficial, adolescent crush on him? He was handsome, smart, and talented. He was also cold, unfriendly, sarcastic and rude. Sakura scowled and stared at the wall beside Sasuke's bed. Next door was Naruto's room. No doubt Hinata was there visiting him. Sakura was envious of the two. Whereas their mission to Kakami had strengthened Naruto and Hinata's friendship and maybe even opened the doorway to more, for Sakura, it had placed serious doubt on any potential future with Sasuke. Her time with Sasuke had dispelled her youthful illusions, her childish infatuation for the young Uchiha, and suddenly, he no longer seemed as appealing as before they had left Konoha the week prior.

Maybe it was good for her. She was seventeen after all. Maybe it was time to move on from the crush she had harbored for Sasuke since kindergarten.

_If only it were that easy, _she thought cynically.If the day ever came when she hated Sasuke, she was sure there would still be some part of her that loved him. She knew it was childish, petty and foolish, but it was impossible to deny emotions.

Suddenly, a soft beeping emitted from one of the machines monitoring Sasuke's vitals. The ghostly green line on the monitor began bouncing across the screen, a rhythmic beep matching each of its ascents and descents. Surprised, Sakura thought of calling the doctor, but just as she was about to run for a nurse, Sasuke stirred and groaned softly. Sakura stopped and almost involuntarily she felt her feet taking her back to Sasuke's bedside. She kneeled beside his bed and gently caressed his face.

His eyes snapped open, and for a moment, their eyes met. Onyx and emerald. Both staring into the endless abyss of the other, lost in the eternity of the moment.

The first thing Sakura recognized was how confused Sasuke looked. The bewilderment was evident in his eyes, the shock apparent on his face. It was as if he had no idea where he was. That was to be expected though. Mild amnesia was not uncommon after suffering a serious injury like Sasuke's. His uncertainty vanished quickly, and after the moment was over, his face settled back into that mask of cold, indifference, complete with the arrogant, trademark smirk.

Sakura inhaled deeply, bracing herself for some scathing or sarcastic remark. That would be only typical. He would say something rude and demeaning, and Sakura would feel even more terrible because of it. Or if he was feeling particularly cruel, he might not say anything and leave Sakura lingering anxiously in a cold, silent void. Ignoring her was the worst thing he could do to her at the moment, and Sakura fully expected him to take advantage of the opportunity.

But what she didn't expect from the young Uchiha was for him to smile. It was a small smile, barely discernible from his smirk, but instead of the artic chill that radiated from the latter, all Sakura could feel was an aura of genuine warmth so uncharacteristic of Sasuke. She could barely believe her eyes.

"Hi, Sakura." He whispered.

* * *

Morino Ibiki was a master of the arts of persuasive conversation techniques and unrivaled in his area of expertise throughout the entire village. It was his job to meet behind closed doors with stubborn, belligerent individuals and show them the wisdom of fully cooperating with Konoha's Intelligence Agency. Whether or not these instructional sessions concluded with Ibiki's pupil emerging badly beaten or nursing amputated limbs was entirely coincidential. The unrefined ignorant masses who had no appreciation for his talent would call him a masochistic torturer, but Ibiki knew he was much more than that. It took a certified expert to inflict just the right levels of pain to extract information from someone. Too little and the subject would not break. Too much and you could risk killing or mentally damaging the subject, rendering them useless. And not all pain was just physical. The jab of a carefully targeted word could be just as damaging as that of a kunai. There were hundreds upon hundreds of different factors to take into consideration, and to maximize the chances of an interrogation's success, the sessions were planned meticulously and with consideration for any possible anomaly in the procedure. Ideal conditions were artificially created for the subject to optimize stress levels, and only the best interrogators, the most talented and experienced, were brought in. And in that regard, there was no one better than Ibiki.

He was a big man and his broad, powerful frame towered over the much smaller, frizzy haired, elderly gentleman strapped securely to a giant, iron chair that had been affectionately christened _Iron Maiden. _It was disappointingly in need of the razor sharp spikes that its namesake implied it should possess, but it still served the purpose just as effectively, only without all the blood. Sometimes anyway. Ibiki smiled as the fat crime lord, Gato, struggled at his bonds, as if the gangster actually still was entertaining some fantasy of escape. Even if he could break free of his bonds, overpower Ibiki, and the two security guards outside the door, he would have to sneak out of an entire village without being detected. And trying to out sneak a ninja, whose sole occupation was just that, was a very hard thing to do.

So yeah, Gato wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Ibiki liked that idea. That meant the two would have plenty of time to get to know one another. Or maybe not very much time at all if the reports on Gato were true. A man of considerable fortitude and determination could withstand an interrogation session spanning weeks at a time. If Kakashi's debriefing was correct, Gato would be lucky if he lasted five minutes of Ibiki's interrogation methods.

"So, if it isn't the infamous, Gato." Ibiki said, pacing back and forth across the room. His eyes never left Gato, and he knew Gato's eyes never left him. Without his designer glasses hiding them, Gato's eyes were wide with terror. He was probably regarding the gruesome scars that adorned Ibiki's face, making it all the more menacing. It worked great for scaring the crap out of people. Not so great at picking up ladies, but there were few tools more effective than the scars Ibiki had earned during his time as a prisoner of war during the last Ninja War. Maybe if they had the time Ibiki would show Gato some of his other ones.

"I understand-"

"I'll tell you anything you want to know!" shrieked Gato hysterically. "Anything! Please! Just don't hurt me."

Ibiki paused and frowned deeply. That was no good. He got to charge Konoha's Financial Department additional for the time he clocked as an interrogator, and even without glancing at his watch he knew he hadn't been with Gato for more than five minutes.

Ignoring Gato, Ibiki pushed his heavily scarred face into Gato's. "What do you think you know?" he snarled. The key was to drag this on. Gato was a small fry, completely unworthy of his time. Ibiki had no need to play this professionally. For now, all he cared about was making this session last as long as possible without making it too apparent that he was cheating the system.

"I'm sorry!" Gato sobbed. "I was hired to try to kidnap the Kyubi! I just worked on the information he gave me!"

Unfortunately that provided no new information. Kakashi's report on the mission had told him as much. The Kyubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox imprisoned inside Naruto, had been the target of Gato's failed operation. But it had been so sloppy, so amateurishly executed that the Hokage had trouble believing that was the true intent of Gato's mission. Another thing to consider, however, was that Gato was merely an ignorant pawn, and his employers was the real masterminds behind this attempt against Konoha.

"Why did you want the Kyubi for?"

"I don't know! I swear I don't know anything! He just said they wanted me to pretend I was making a weapons transaction in Kakami, and once Konoha send their ninjas, all I had to do was kidnap that one, stupid kid."

"How did you know they were sending Naruto to Kakami?" Ibiki asked.

Gato shrugged. "He said he would take care of everything. All I know was I was supposed to hire some renegade ninjas to help me out. Those two idiotic Mist Jounin were the only ones I could get on such short notice."

Still, nothing really new. The report of Haku and Zabuza resurfacing was mildly interesting, but nothing that warranted any real concern. They were mercenaries now and would continue to be so until someone got around to killing them.

"Who hired you?" Ibiki asked. "Give me the name of the man who hired you."

Gato gulped audibly. "I don't know that either. I worked through a middle man."

Ibiki grinned broadly. Finally! A lie! Something he could work with! He walked over to the equipment bench where a brown doctor's bay rested. He opened it and extracted a wicked looking metallic tool. It looked similar to a pair of scissors, only bigger, sharper, and in the hands of the scarred Ibiki, exponentially more intimidating and deadly. They gleamed menacingly, their polished black surfaces shimmering under the room's light. Meaningfully, he set the scissors down between Gato's legs.

"Start talking." Was all Ibiki said. And that was more than enough. Immediately, whatever resistance Gato had crumbled and he began crying. Great big tears dribbled down his fat cheeks and his mighty sobs echoed throughout the room. Ibiki might have almost felt bad for him if he hadn't read Gato's criminal record beforehand. Here was a man who had cheated, stole and murdered his way to success. He was responsible for the deaths of dozens and the suffering of many more. There was no pity in Ibiki's heart for scum like Gato.

"His…his name…" Gato blubbered.

"What was his name?" Ibiki asked softly.

For a moment Gato almost didn't say it. It was as if the fear of confession actually was greater than his fear of a diabolical maniac who was threatening to chop off his nuts. That spoke great measures, not about Gato's resolve to keep his client confidential, but about the man who inspired this fear. But finally, the fat crime lord broke.

He said one word, a name that Ibiki would have never expected, a name that invoked fear in not only Gato, but every ninja in Konoha. The master interrogator knew right away that Gato was not lying, and a second later he was speeding down the corridors towards the Hokage's office. She had to know.

Orochimaru was back.

* * *

She was only three or four years old, a pretty little girl with sandy-blonde hair and deep blue eyes that were at the moment brimming with tears. She sniffed noisily in between sobs, mucus and tears dribbling down her face as she silently wept in pain. The girl's name was Julia, and she was a pre-academy student, a sort of ninja-in-training to become a ninja-in-training. Her instructor had brought the wailing Julia into the medical wing ten minutes earlier. Apparently she had fallen from a tree while playing with her friends and the instructor was afraid her arm might've broken in the fall. 

Yakushi Kabuto gently took her small arm in his hands. She stiffened at his touch at first, but gradually she relaxed, her nervousness assuaged by the reassuring smile the white-haired doctor gave her. Using chakra to amplify his senses, he carefully pressed his fingers into the girl's flesh, searching for a break in the bone beneath it.

"Good news, Julia," he told her. "Your arm isn't broken."

"Really?" she sniffled. "But my arm still hurts."

"Well you do have a small cut." Kabuto said. He poured some alcohol on a cotton pad and tenderly rubbed it over her injury. As expected, the girl flinched.

"Ouch, that stung," she complained.

Kabuto chuckled softly and reached into the voluminous pocket of the white, doctor's coat he wore. He extracted a small lollipop which he handed to Julia. Her eyes lit up in excitement and the tears vanished, forgetting all about her discomfort at the sight of the candy. She popped it in her mouth while Kabuto returned to patching the little girl up. He finished the job with a colorful band-aide, tenderly covering little Julia's cut.

"There," Kabuto declared. "All better. Now you better get back to class."

The little girl beamed at the Konoha medic. "Thank you!"

Kabuto watched as Julia scampered down from the patient's desk and left his office. Children were fascinating creatures. One second they'd be crying their eyes out, and then the next everything was well in the world. A small cut could ruin their day, but a lollipop made everything better. If only adults could be appeased so easily…

He sat back down at his desk where he had been filling out some reports before a nurse had interrupted him with Julia's injury. Such a trivial incident hardly warranted the attention of one of Konoha's most qualified medics, but an excuse to take a break from the tedious paperwork had been welcomed. Besides, he liked children. Their bright smiles and naïve innocence made him laugh.

Kabuto was about to return to work when something vibrated in his pocket. Curious, he fished around until he found what was shaking. It was his cell phone. The screen was glowing, declaring that he had just received a message from an unknown recipient. He reached into his breast pocket and put on his glasses, and then pressed a button. The letter was displayed on the screen. It was only six words, but Kabuto understood all the same.

**Gato. You Know What to Do.**

**

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
Heyo. Chapter 21 is done, and it's officially the first chapter written on my brand new laptop! Yay! Anyway, enjoying writing this a lot more than the last few chapters, and hopefully I'll be able to bring a few new things to the table. Including less scene shifts. I've noticed I do that. A lot. Anyway, read and review please. I don't need to tell you how much it means to me. And yes I know I just did.

ZOMG! Naruto and Hinata go on their first, ever ramen date! But romance in a ramen bar goes awry when…ah screw it. Just read the next chapter and find out everything that happens in **Chapter Twenty-Two: Ramen Bar Romance.**


	22. Chapter 22

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Yeah. Copyrighted. Shiggidy schwa.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Ramen Bar Romance**

"Are you decent yet?" Hinata asked. Her eyes were careful not to divert from the spot on the blank, hospital wall they were avidly focused on. Behind her, the sound of clothes rustling and frustrated grunting answered her question. Her cheeks grew warm just thinking about Naruto changing out of his hospital gown mere inches away from her, and it took all her self control not to accidentally glance back. It was hard and it wasn't entirely because of her own personal desires to catch her crush in a vulnerable state of undress either. The chaotic chorus of furniture falling over, glass shattering, and vivid curses made Hinata wonder just what the heck Naruto was doing back there.

"Who did you say you got these clothes from again?" Naruto asked tersely. Without looking, Hinata could hear him jumping up and down on one foot, undoubtedly trying to wiggle his way into the pants that Hinata had brought for him to change into.

"I took them from Neji's room. Why?" Hinata asked innocently.

"They're freaking tight that's why." Naruto grumbled. "Are you sure these aren't yours?" Suddenly, he yelped in surprise, and the loud crash and slight vibration in the floorboards told Hinata he must have lost his balance and fallen over. Again. Still, she resisted the urge to sneak a peak –er, that is, assist him, which she silently applauded herself for.

Hinata giggled. When she had snuck into her cousin's room an hour earlier to retrieve some clothes for Naruto, a single glance at Neji's wardrobe told her that none of it would fit Naruto. While Naruto preferred an attire of a baggier, contemporary persuasion, Neji was an advocate of traditional, more clinging type of clothing. In the end, it had boiled down to either stealing one of Neji's ceremonial robes, or taking a pair of his training clothes. Having anyone outside of the Hyuga family wearing her family robes would obviously draw unwanted attention, so Hinata had settled for the latter.

"That queer," Naruto muttered. After a few more minutes of incoherent grumbling and struggling, Naruto finally tapped Hinata on her shoulder. "There. All set. Finally."

Hinata smiled as she appraised her friend. Even with a large bandage adorning his right cheek, the too-tight pants, and the horribly clashing neon-green shirt, she had to admit he still looked good.

"So where to?"

During their visit that afternoon, they had come to the conclusion that they hadn't eaten in quite some time. Naturally, the idea of sneaking out for a late dinner came up. It had been at least six hours since their team had arrived back in Konoha, and Hinata couldn't remember the last time she had eaten anything more than the meager portions of bread and water in their rations kit. Going out for a good, hot meal with Naruto was definitely not unwelcome.

"I know a good ramen bar not too far from here," volunteered Naruto. 'Best ramen in Konoha. How about it? My treat?"

Hinata almost shrieked with glee. On the inside she did at least. Not only would she get to share a meal in Naruto's company, but he was also volunteering to pay of it? Oh my god! It was a practically date he was asking her out on!

_Come on, Hinata. Think of something profound to say! Your crush is asking you out on your first date ever! You have to say something memorable!_

"That would be nice," Hinata agreed timidly.

_Oh for Christ's sake…_

But if Naruto was put off by Hinata's reserved compliance, he certainly did not show it the way he eagerly grabbed her hand and practically dragged her out of the room.

Sneaking out of the hospital was the next obstacle. Instructor Shizune was a stickler for rules, and if she said someone was to stay overnight for observation, that was exactly what they damn well better be doing. Surprisingly, Naruto seemed to know exactly how to escape undetected. He showed Hinata all sorts of places to hide from the patrolling nurses, secret passages, and even when the guard on duty changed exactly seventeen minutes past the hour. Within minutes they were outside of the hospital and strolling down the streets of Konoha. Apparently this wasn't the first time Naruto had done this.

"You know Instructor Shizune will kill you if she finds out you're not in your room." Hinata pointed out.

Naruto only grinned. For a natural born rascal like himself, misbehaving was only half the fun. It was the risk of getting caught that made it all the more enjoyable.

The streets of Konoha's Market District were relatively empty with only the hardcore shoppers scurrying from kiosk to kiosk in search of last minute bargains from the closing store owners. The sun had set for the day, but a series of lamps strung overhead by the telephone poles scattered periodically throughout the city did an adequate job of lighting the streets. Without the sun's natural warmth though, the chilly autumn wind was all the more noticeable, and it didn't take long before the two of them were shivering.

"I wish I could've gone back to my room and gotten my track suit," Naruto complained, tugging at his pants. "God, these are comfortable."

"Sorry," Hinata apologized abashedly. "There wasn't a whole lot to choose from."

"No, don't get me wrong," Naruto said hastily. "I appreciate it. But I swear, these things feel like spandex or something. The only reason a guy should have spandex is if he's fighting crime in a flashy costume."

Hinata smiled. "Well, I didn't see a mask or a cowl lying around, so I don't think Neji's moonlighting as a super hero."

The thought of a super hero Neji decked out in colorful spandex and mask combination made them chuckle. They spent the remainder of the walk to Naruto's ramen bar discussing possible names for the hypothetical crime fighter, and their laughter grew louder and louder as the proposed names became more and more absurd.

"He could be Konoha's Yellow Beast!" suggested Naruto as they made a turn onto another of Konoha's many streets. Up ahead, he could see a small outdoor restaurant with a picture of a giant ramen bowl positioned on top of the roof. It wasn't much; it was more or of a bar than anything with only a few wooden tables and a handful of stools to accommodate the customers, but their ramen was absolutely divine, and that was what kept the patrons coming back for more.

Hinata shook her head. "No, Instructor Gai is already Konoha's Green Beast. We can't have two of them." It was an unwritten rule that superheroes needed to exercise at least _some _creativity when it came to constructing their crime fighting alias. Plagiarism was a definite no-no.

The restaurant was crowded and they had to wait a few minutes before a table was cleared up. Naruto was able to snag them his favorite spot right underneath a humongous, ceramic doll of a white cat, the _Maneki Neko, _the Beckoning Cat, the symbol of luck and prosperity. Hinata couldn't help but smile warmly at the cat as it paw clawed pointlessly away at the air. Fortune was definitely smiling upon her.

"This place is called Ichiraku, "explained Naruto as he pulled up Hinata's chair for her. "It's famous throughout all of Konoha. Busy all night round," he gestured at the many patrons crowding around the tables, eagerly gobbling down their noodles.

"We're fortunate that we got seats so easily," said Hinata, thinking of the Beckoning Cat again.

Naruto nodded and passed Hinata a menu. "Yeah, usually I have to send a Shadow Replication a good hour ahead of time if I want to eat here." He peeked around his menu and whispered, "Don't tell Tsunade about that by the way. She'd have my head."

"Of course," Hinata promised. She opened up her own menu and scanned through the listings. Unsurprisingly, she recognized almost none of them. Growing up in nobility meant she seldom ate something deemed as low-class and cheap as ramen. Not wanting to appear ignorant of the ramen culture Naruto indulged in, she asked, "Can you recommend me something?"

"Well, usually I order one of everything." Naruto began. Then he caught Hinata's uneasy look and frowned contemplatively. It was his understanding that girls rarely ate as much as guys, more out of a desire to appeal to the archaic idea of femininity than anything else. It was almost impossible for a ninja to get fat with all the jumping around and fighting that was required of them. So far, Chouji was the only one who had accomplished it.

"Uh," Naruto quickly corrected himself. "I would go with the ramen topped with kamaboko and sprinkled with daikon."

A waiter came around a minute later to take their orders. Hinata went with Naruto's recommendation, and Naruto ordered everything on the menu. Once the waiter had disappeared back into the kitchen, Naruto glanced over at the head chef, a big burly man who was standing behind a nearby counter.

"Oy! Old man! How about some sake?" Naruto yelled.

"Oy! Naruto!" returned the chef. "How about no?"

"C'mon!" pleaded Naruto. "You wouldn't embarrass me in front of a girl, would you?"

The chef burst into hysterical laughter and had to hold onto something to support himself. "That's a good one," he wheezed.

Naruto scowled and turned back to Hinata. "That jerk," he grumbled. "Oh well, had to try I guess."

Hinata giggled. Personally she disliked the taste of liquor, but she appreciated the effort all the same. It reminded her of a time when she spotted Naruto hanging out with Instructor Jiraiya five years ago. The elderly ninja was completely drunk as usual, and had offered Naruto some of his sake, but Naruto had adamantly refused. Now, he would do next to anything to get it. Funny what high school did to people.

Their food came shortly. For Hinata, a large bowl of steaming noodles, and for Naruto, a gigantic tray brimming with bowls of ramen, steamed tempura, breaded tonkatsu, and a complimentary set of gyoza. Tea was also provided with a set of shot glasses; it was a not so subtle joke from the chef Naruto assumed.

"Let's eat!" Naruto declared, breaking his chopsticks. Hinata had to suppress another giggle as she watched him devour his food without any pretense of civility. Her family would have been disgusted by his slovenly table manners, but Hinata found them a refreshing change. At her dinner table, she had to force herself to concentrate on proper dining etiquette that she rarely enjoyed her food.

She took a cautionary bite of her ramen, chewed, and swallowed. Naruto took a break from his feasting and looked at her imploringly.

"What'd I tell you? Best ramen in Konoha, right?"

It had been years since Hinata had been allowed to eat ramen, but she had to admit, it was incredibly good. She nodded. "It's delicious!"

Satisfied that his judgment of Irichaku's ramen was indeed correct, Naruto dug back into his food. Hinata also returned to eating, though far slower than the ravenous pace Naruto had adopted. By the time she had finished polishing off the last of her noodles; Naruto was also just gobbling down the last bits of his meal. With a satisfied sigh, Naruto pushed the last of his empty bowls aside.

"So, Hinata," Naruto asked. "What are you doing after this?"

"I-I need to return home," Hinata muttered. In truth, she was supposed to report home as soon as her mission was completed, but the opportunity to go out with Naruto was too good to pass up. She highly doubted she could push off going back home too much longer. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing really." It was clear by his voice that there was _something, _and this made Hinata more than a little annoyed at her family's restrictive rules. She was seventeen already and she still had a curfew! "There was just something I thought you might want to see."

Hinata wanted to scream, to vent her frustration in a single outburst instead of stowing it away beneath a curtain of stoicism. "I-I apologize, Naruto. I don't think I can tonight."

Naruto smiled. "That's all right. I guess there are perks to not having parents."

Hinata wasn't sure if he meant that seriously. She knew Naruto had been an orphan his entire life, and as much as she couldn't stand her family sometimes, she had to admit she couldn't imagine living a life without them. At the same time, she envied Naruto's freedom. He was poor but had the freedom that Hinata's heritage denied her. She was rich and a noble, but for the rest of her life she would be a prisoner of her family's expectations.

That was the curse of being a Hyuga.

"You know…" Naruto ventured. "You _could _sneak out later on tonight."

Hinata swallowed hard and her index fingers began their habitual tapping. It was tempting, but she knew it was impossible. "Sorry. My father…"

_My father…_

"…He wouldn't approve."

Naruto was silent for a moment, and the raucous noise of the conversations from the customers washed over their quiet table. "You don't get along well with him?" He inquired carefully.

Hinata shrugged. "He can be…difficult."

Naruto chuckled. He always remembered thinking Instructor Iruka had been a real square when he had lived with the strict, but caring, Konoha Instructor as a child. Naruto couldn't imagine anyone could be worst than him. "How difficult?"

"Well, he said neither my little sister nor I can date until we're thirty and out of his house."

Naruto just sort of stared at her. First in wry skepticism when he thought she was joking, then in bewildered disbelieved when he realized she wasn't. "Wow…so, this doesn't technically count as a date then. It's more of a-"

"Dinner amongst friends," Hinata concluded. She was glad that Naruto didn't seem completely freaked out by her father. But then again, that could completely change if he ever did meet the feared Hyuga Hiashi. Hinata privately hoped that day never came.

"And what would happen if you were to break this rule?" Naruto inquired casually. "Say if some boy asked you out on a date sometime and you said yes."

"My father would kill him."

Naruto whistled low. "You dad doesn't mess around, does he?"

_No, he doesn't. _Hinata knew that years ago, during the war, her father was one of Konoha's top assassins. He had killed for a lot less than someone taking out his daughter against his expressed wishes.

The blonde-haired ninja smiled and took out his wallet to pay the bill which had arrived while they were talking. Hinata couldn't help but notice how thin it was. Inwardly, she felt guilty watching him pay with what little he had, but at the same time, she felt ecstatic that he would even be _willing _to do so. She was going to offer to pay her share, but stopped herself. Naruto was doing this because he wanted to; offering any sort of compensation would be rude and ungrateful.

"Well…" Naruto said, stowing away his wallet. The burly chef and his helpers were starting to clean up in preparation for closing. It was time to go home. "I don't suppose I could…"

"You could what?" Hinata asked.

_Just ask it…_

"I don't suppose I could walk you-"

_Walk me home? Please, finish your sentence._

But he never did. At that moment, a loud, shrill voice exploded in the night silence. It was angry, female, and neither ninjas had any trouble recognizing it. They turned around, and sure enough, standing in the doorway with four of her medic ninja flunkies in tow, was none other than Instructor Shizune. Her fists were clenched and her face was contorted in a mask of fury.

"Naruto!" She yelled, her voice livid with rage.

Naruto swallowed loudly. "Oh crap."

* * *

Yamato glanced down at his watch as he strolled down the corridors leading to the Interrogation Room, hundreds of feet beneath the village of Konoha. Every fifty meters or so he would be stopped by a pair of ANBU guardsmen who would require a DNA scan before they allowed him to pass. He bore the routine security checkpoints stoically even though they irritated him. He knew each of the guards by name, and they knew him, but all of them realized the importance of the heavy security precautions. Deep underground, protected by a regiment of Konoha's elite Jounin, an attachment of ANBU, and a labyrinth of stone catacombs, was a maximum security prison designed to incarcerate for the most violent and dangerous scum that might threaten the country. 

And boy what a collection of such deviants did they have. Some of the most evil ninjas in the world were imprisoned here, locked away under some of the most advanced wards and protective seals ever devised. Renegade ninjas, psychopaths, traitors, all now found a home in the massive underground prison.

He descended down another set of stairs and passed yet another security check point. He had five minutes until he was scheduled to interrogate their latest prisoner, a human named Gato. Yamato was in no hurry. A brisk stroll would put him there in less than a minute.

A slight frown appeared on his face. It had been a week now since the Hokage had removed him from his post as an ANBU operative and transferred him to regular Jounin assignments, and he still couldn't get over the feeling that this was somehow a demotion of some sort. But that was impossible. He was one of the best ninjas in the village, even maybe rivaling his mentor, Hatake Kakashi. His service record was immaculate, his achievements extraordinary. If anything, a promotion should have been in order.

As he passed through the final corridor leading to the interrogation room, he flipped through the manila folder that the Hokage had given him on Gato. The man wasn't anything special; hardly dangerous at all. A weapon runner, drug pusher, normal variant of non-ninja criminal. Nothing to constitute being locked up in a maximum security prison. At the bottom, however, scribbled in bold letters just minutes ago was one word: Orochimaru.

And that name alone represented a dangerous threat.

Yamato paused at a large metal door and scanned his finger print into the small terminal beside it. The doors opened with a loud, mechanical, _hiss, _and the Jounin strolled through. Almost immediately he froze, still framed in the doorway. Something was terribly wrong. He could feel it.

"I need an immediate lockdown!" Yamato yelled into the small microphone attached to his lapel. "Possible escape from Interrogation Room C Level 3, subject: Gato. I repeat: immediate lockdown!"

Grabbing a kunai from his holster, he dashed further inside. Upon seeing what awaited him, however, he sighed softly and stowed the weapon away. There would be no need for it. Blood was everywhere. Streaks of crimson stained every surface, as if a canister of red paint had just exploded in the concrete room, and sprawled out in the interrogation chair, his throat neatly slit from one end to the other, was Gato.

Yamato looked at the dead man for a moment in stunned silence. Gato's skin was still warm, and his eyes hadn't even completely glazed over yet. Whoever had killed Gato had done so recently, perhaps even within the last ten minutes or so. The Jounin swore softly and gently closed the murdered man's eyes, giving him dignity in death that he probably didn't deserve.

The two guards on duty were gone, and probably never would be seen again. Yamato would have to coordinate a search; no doubt in a day or so they would locate the unfortunate souls' bodies stowed away in an air vent or something. He scanned the room closely, looking for any clue that might reveal who the perpetrator of the murder was. But even with his heightened sense of detection, he spotted nothing. No footprints, no scents, no finger prints –nothing. If not for Gato's corpse and the blood splattered all over the place, Yamato might have guessed no one had come in since Ibiki had run off to alert the Hokage.

The assassin had been good. Very good.

"Cancel the lockdown," Yamato said into his communication unit. Whoever killed Gato wouldn't be stupid enough to linger. They would be long gone by now. "And get an ANBU team down here immediately. We have a prisoner dead."

* * *

Hinata couldn't remember the last time she had been as happy as she was tonight. Sure the date hadn't gone completely as planned and sure Naruto hadn't gotten to walk her home because Instructor Shizune and her posse of medical ninjas had jumped him, hogtied him, and then dragged the mischief maker back to the hospital kicking and screaming the entire way. Other than that, however, tonight had been _perfect. _In fact, right before Instructor Shizune had dragged him out of the restaurant, Naruto had suggested they do this again sometime. Or at least it sounded that way. Amidst all the chaos of four grown men, an enraged woman, and petulant teenager all wrestling on the floor, knocking tables askew and sending dishes crashing to the floor, it had been kind of hard to hear what Naruto was saying. Nonetheless, it made her evening all the more memorable, and more importantly it gave hope for another one to come. 

As she walked through the gates of her family estate, smiling at the two sentries who stood vigilantly over it, she spotted her cousin, Neji, walking down the same path towards her. His eyes still bore the marks of having recently used the Byakugan, and his long hair was drenched in sweat –obvious signs that he had been training again. Apparently, even the success of a Class B mission hadn't warranted a respite from his rigorous training schedule.

"Hello, Hinata." He called with a polite bow of greeting. Hinata returned it. "Where have you been?" he asked.

"Out eating dinner." She replied ambiguously.

Neji nodded. "With who?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed irritably. "None of your business." She snapped. It wasn't that she didn't trust Neji not to run and tell her father, he had too much honor to ever do that, but she didn't want to endure his snide teasing either.

Unfortunately, that was more than enough for Neji to come to his own conclusion, which of course, was the right one. He smiled knowingly, a thin lipped sort of gesture that clearly said _I know your secret, Hinata_ without directly implying it.

Hinata favored her cousin with the darkest scowl she could muster. Neji was probably the only person who could earn her ire with only a smile. Another one of his many talents.

"Oh, your father was looking for you by the way," Neji said. "You'd better go see him."

"Terrific," Hinata groaned. Seeing her father was the last thing she wanted to do, but it wouldn't be wise to keep him waiting. She took Neji's advice and entered the Hyuga mansion, and found her father waiting for her in dining room.

A tall, imposing man with dark hair and the same pearly, white eyes that every member of the Hyuga family had, Hiashi Hyuga sat at the head of the long, dining table where the clan ate their meals together each night. He looked up as she approached and slowly stood. There was no smile of welcome on his face, no indication that he was glad that his eldest daughter had arrived home safely from her first Class B mission. His face was a blank slate, his eyes as cold as the ice that encased his heart.

"Hinata," he said, his voice stern and harsh. "You're late."

"I'm sorry father." She apologized. Truthfully, she felt no remorse at all. Why should she be sorry for enjoying her life?

Her father gave her a look of contempt, a glare that spoke of his disgust for her, then without another word to his daughter, began walking out of the room. Hinata felt something well up in her throat, felt the hot tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She tried to blink them back, but they came despite her protests. She didn't want to appear even weaker to father than he already believed she was, but yet, the crushing sensation of disappointment and fury was just too overwhelming for the poor girl.

"Don't you even care about how my mission went?" She screamed after him, all pretenses of etiquette and manners abandoned in the wake of her anger.

Hiashi paused. Without looking back, he asked, "Were you a burden on your teammates?"

More tears now, warm and stinging as they streamed down her face. Was that all her father thought of her? Did he really underestimate her that greatly? Did he really have such low expectations of his eldest daughter that she amounted to nothing more than a burden? She was sure of it now: her father loathed her, hated her, reviled her, detested her very existence.

"Of course not!" She yelled.

Hiashi nodded. "Then what more do I need to know?"

Then he was gone, leaving a weeping Hinata to collapse into one of the dining room chairs, her face buried in her hands. She wanted her father to love her more than anything in the world, but there wasn't a place for her in his heart. She wanted to make him proud of her; to be a daughter he could admire and take pride in calling his, but nothing she did ever seemed enough to satisfy the mighty Hyuga Hiashi.

She cried until her eyes could cry no more, and then she just sat there, surrounded by darkness and the weight of her failure.

_It had almost been a perfect night._

_

* * *

_Author's Notes:  
Yay! Another chapter done! Nothing too noteworthy to mention except that hotmail has been blocking all my stuff coming from so if you've been trying to PM me, I haven't been getting them. Sorry. Feel free to email me at though if you ever feel the need to get a hold of me. Thanks for reviewing guys! Nothing makes me happier than long reviews –keep it up! Oh, and I've created an unofficial forum for a Ninja's Guide in the Naruto Forum section if you ever want to check it out. Nothing too much in there right now; I'll leave that up to you guys to fill it up with whatever you want.

Oh, and I got Chugworth Academy in the mail today. Super funny. Great art. Highly recommended.

Sasuke has been having these weird dreams. Like super weird. Like of his estranged brother coming and killing his mother, father, and his entire clan. Not your normal "Holy crap! I'm falling!" sort of dreams. Worst of all, they're not dreams. They're memories. Memories of the past. All this and more in the next chapter of a Ninja's Guide: Chapter 23 –**Uchiha Itachi Must Die. **


	23. Chapter 23

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto nor do I own fanfiction, but I do own this Naruto fanfiction! Yowza! Leaping logic! Lemme go get some ice can cool down my brain!

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Uchiah Itachi Must Die

_He was only five years old. Only a child, too young, and unprepared in every way to do what he knew he had to. His hands were covered in blood, a sheet of dripping crimson on his pale skin, and all he could do was stare at it in transfixed horror with wide eyes. His body trembled uncontrollably, his hands jarring violently like a ship caught at sea in the middle of a storm. It was miracle his shaking knees allowed him to remaining standing, but they were frozen all the same, obstinately refusing to budge no matter how hard he commanded them to. Like a deer frozen into the headlights of a speeding car, he just stood there, too afraid, too stupid to do anything but to stay rooted and wait for the inevitable._

"_Big brother…" the child whispered, his voice finally finding life. "Why?"_

_In the corner of his eye he could see two bodies sprawled dead on the floor. One was a man. The other was a woman. They both wore blood splattered, kimonos bearing the crest of the Uchiha family, just like all the corpses that he had spotted outside minutes earlier. _

"_Mother…father…why?" He asked. Tears streamed down his face, and his fists clenched together as his fear gave into his anger. "Why? Why would you do this? Why would you kill them, Itachi!" _

_They were dead. They were all dead. His entire clan, the prestigious Uchiha family was dead. All brutally murdered at the hands of one ingenious assassin. _

_Then, those eyes, those terrible, horrible red eyes turned and came to a rest on him. They were cold and indifferent, devoid of any semblance of human emotion like compassion or mercy. He said only three words, but they spoke volumes to those who could listen. It was a beginning of a legacy, a legacy marked by three words that would forever be emblazoned in the memory of the sole survivor of that night._

"_Because I can."_

Uchiha Sasuke awoke with a startled gasp, the hospital bed sheets tangled around his torso as he sat up. His eyes were wide with fear, beads of cold perspiration dripping down his brow and matting his raven hair against his skull. Wildly, almost hysterically he whipped his head back and forth; a desperate frenzy blazing in his eyes as they searched the darkness for an antagonist that he knew would not be there. His heart was thudding in his chest, an audible noise in the still silence of the night that was accompanied only by the erratic pace of his own breathing.

_Calm down, Sasuke, _he mentally commanded himself. His eyes closed, and he allowed the cool, night air to soothe his nerves. It wafted through his long, unruly hair, lending an essence of tranquility that helped him calm his troubled mind. Gradually, his breathing became steadier, and his heart returned to its normal rhythmic pattern, but still he did not trust himself to open his eyes. Not yet. Not until he was confident that when he did, the nightmare of his murdered parents would not be there to greet him.

He felt silly, foolish even to let a nightmare get the better of him like that. But it had been so vivid, so real, that even when awake he had trouble distinguishing it from reality. He could still smell the blood; still feel the paralyzing fear gripping his throat as he gazed upon the grisly sight of his dead mother and father. It had been the single most traumatizing moment in his life, and reliving it in dreams was torturous beyond imagine.

Slowly, he cracked is eyes open. He was still in the hospital room. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as he ran a hand through his sweaty mane.

_It was just a nightmare…_

Eclipsed in the night's encompassing folds, it occurred to Sasuke just how long he had been asleep for. Hours? Days even? The last thing he remembered before passing out again was Sakura's face. She was crying as usual, about what Sasuke could only guess. Grief, sadness, happiness, confusion, disappointment, elation –tears seemed to the favorite expression of emotions amongst girls. It was pointless to even speculate why a girl was crying most of the time; Sasuke didn't even bother. He would just be wrong anyway.

Sakura was no longer sitting beside his bed, but he could see where she had been resting her head on his bedside. No doubt she had fallen asleep waiting for him to wake up. Instructor Shizune had probably made her go home hours ago. Still, Sasuke noticed a parting gift of hers, a small, pink blossom that sat in a vase of water on his window sill. Carefully, he caressed it gently, rolling its smooth, silky petals between his fingers. The touch was cool against his flesh, and the sweet fragrance that lingered around the flower was not unpleasant.

He replaced the flower in the vase, and as he did so, his thoughts involuntarily returned to the girl who shared the peach blossom's namesake –Sakura. It was unsettling how his perception on her had so radically shifted over the last week. All these years he had always thought of her as just another one of his legions of mindless, fawning fan girls, but then, one week with her in Kakami and everything had changed. She had displayed the kind of attributes that most guys would have hated to have in a girlfriend. Sakura had been spiteful, vindictive, insulting, haughty, uncooperative, stubborn, insubordinate, and yet Sasuke found this sudden evolution in her personality intriguing. Maybe there was actually something behind that pretty face that Sasuke could grow to like.

Sasuke chuckled, but it quickly became a hoarse cough. He hated the smell of hospital rooms, that sterile odor that permeated every inch of the building. Deciding that he needed some fresh air, Sasuke carefully climbed out of bed. Fortunately the nurse had removed the IV tubes from his body, and all he had to be cautious of was his broken ribs.

There was no nurse on duty outside his door, saving Sasuke the hassle of explaining that despite being the recipient of near fatal injuries, he still wanted fresh air. His eyes quickly adjusted to the dimly lit hallways and he quietly crept through the deserted corridors towards the stairway leading to the roof. A locked door barred his path, but a simple lock picking technique quickly gained him access. Sasuke didn't even know why they bothered. It would take a lot more than a basic pad lock to keep a ninja from going where they wanted.

It was even colder on the roof that it was in his room, but he bore the cool temperature without complaint. His mind was somewhere else, and his body felt none of the discomfort that it should have. Sasuke crossed over to the edge of the roof and leaned over the protective railing, staring out into the city of Konoha below. Most of the buildings were dark, its inhabitants long since retired for the night, but there were visible lights scattered periodically in the darkness, marking the parts of the city that never slept.

His eyes traveled further though, past the city lights, past the stone monument to the Hokages and into the endless stretches of night. Somewhere out there _he _lurked, hiding like the coward he was. It was only a matter of time though until they met again. Of that Sasuke was certain. This time the results of their meeting would be different. Twelve years had passed since Sasuke was a child, too weak and inexperienced to avenge his parent's murder, but now things would be different. No longer was he as helpless.

For years he had trained harder than any of the other students at Konoha High, and his dedication had paid off. He was strong, almost as strong as some of the teachers, and with time and determination he would grow stronger and stronger until the day he killed the man who destroyed his clan. Nothing would stop him; nothing would keep him from fulfilling his destiny.

Uchiha Sasuke was an avenger. And one day he would get his vengeance on the man that ruined his life.

_I'm going to kill you, _he vowed, the stars and the sleeping city a witness to his promise for revenge. _Uchiha Itachi!_

_---------------------------------------------------------------- _

Naruto sometimes wondered why he bothered enduring the monotony of the high school lecture hall. It was always the same thing. The instructor came up, talked for about an hour about their corresponding subject, and then left the classroom to their own devices. The latter part of the class Naruto didn't mind so much as being confined to his seat, while terrible, was more tolerable if allowed to interact freely with his peers. It was the first part, the lecture, which seriously tested the young ninja's sanity. An agonizing hour of straight up fact recitation that any fool could read from a book, assuming that is, if one such fool had the initiative to do so. Naturally, Naruto didn't, but in principle it seemed like the instructors should really put more preparation in their daily lessons. The drudgery of repetitive droning fringed upon Naruto's innate inclination to be active; it was prison that constrained his freedom to the same, four walls of Konoha High, day after day after day. Until graduation of course, but unfortunately attending these mundane classes were mandatory prerequisites, and so until Naruto passed them with satisfactory marks, his diploma was still unattainable.

He really should have been taking notes in preparation for the semester final that was coming up next week, particularly since he had missed an entire week of class earlier because of his assignment in Kakami. Naruto was normally a few lessons behind most of the class, but as his instructors had readily pointed out numerous times in the last few days, he would really have to work at it if he wanted to be ready for the exam.

Naruto shifted uneasily in his seat and glanced down the aisle. Hinata was sitting near the front of the room, dutifully taking notes. Should he ask her to copy them later? She would probably let him borrow them, but would she be frustrated at his laziness? Ever since their quasi-date to the ramen bar yesterday, Naruto had made it a point to stay on her good side. He enjoyed her company, and he would hate to ruin their friendship by accidentally setting her off in "Crazy Psycho Bitch" again like that one time in their hotel room in Kakami.

He sighed and picked up his pencil and began jotting down a few notes. At the table next to him, Kyo gave him a very odd look that clearly said _what the hell are you doing?_

Naruto shrugged sheepishly, feeling very much like a child who had gotten caught red handed doing something wrong. Kyo lifted up a pack of cards that he always carried, and Naruto automatically knew the red-haired ninja was asking for a game. With an amused grin, Naruto shook his head. He didn't play cards with Kyo anymore, not when he was pretty sure Konoha's resident card manipulating jester cheated. Naruto couldn't prove it, of course, but as far as he was concerned, it wasn't _humanly possible_ to be as lucky in cards as Kyo was.

Kyo had been taking Naruto's lunch money consistently since second grade. He _had_ to be cheating.

Naruto looked up at the blackboard, trying to make sense of the complicated equations and formulas that Instructor Ebisu was scribbling at the front of the class. Of all the classes that Naruto had to take at Konoha High, Applied Physics was definitely his least favorite. In History he could at least make random stabs at the right answer, but there was very little room for guesswork when it came to the precise, mathematical calculations involved in Applied Physics.

_If a 170 cm male ninja weighting 65 kilograms leaps from a 5.2 meter embankment at a descent of .34 meters per second, assuming gravity remains consistent, how long will it take the ninja to perform an advanced Shadow Replication technique if there's a northwestern breeze of 2 kilometers per hour? _

Naruto squinted at the board. What the hell did that mean? Did it really matter? Was he really the only one in the class who didn't understand this crap? A quick glance around the room confirmed it: he really was the only one who seemed completely lost. All the rest of his classmates were jotting down notes without the least bit of apparent hesitation or confusion.

"OK, class," Instructor Ebisu said. With the bandana and opaque sunglasses he always wore, Naruto always thought Instructor Ebisu looked like some sort of closet child molester. Not that that was even remotely relevant at the moment. "As I'm sure all of you are aware, mid term exams are approaching next week."

Blank stares were his only response.

Ebisu sighed wearily. "Well they are. And I expect you to be ready for your Applied Physics test. It'll cover all of the material from chapters one through seven, and be prepared to show your work for complex aerodynamic formulas."

Just then, the bell rang, and the class began to disperse. Naruto grabbed his book bag from beneath his chair and joined the line of students filing out of the classroom. However, before he could cross the threshold, the divider between classroom and blissful freedom, Naruto felt a hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Naruto," Instructor Ebisu said. "Would you mind staying after class for a minute?"

The blonde-haired ninja nodded. What else could he do? He supposed he could have made a dash for the door and thrown a few smoke bombs to cover his escape, but he imagined Instructor Ebisu might have already prepared for that possibility. After all, Naruto was certain he wasn't the first student to entertain the thought of running away from possible punishment.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked nervously, careful to stay as close to the door as possible. He didn't know what he had done wrong to warrant yet another teacher conference, but if there was even the slightest hint that Ebisu was going to try to touch him or something, Naruto was freaking out of there.

Ebisu walked over to his desk and sat down on top of it. "Naruto, I've noticed you've been having some trouble in my class since…well, let's be frank. You've never done well in my class. In fact, your grades are terrible."

Naruto winced at his instructor's brutal honesty, but inwardly he relaxed. This was one of those "You'd Better Shape Up in My Class, Naruto" discussions, not a "You're Seriously Screwed, Naruto" one. He had had tons of these before and there was nothing to worry about it.

A folder was produced from the desk, and Ebisu opened it up and showed it to Naruto. On one page there was a list of all of the seniors in Konoha High, and beside these names were numerous entries chronicling their academic performance that school year. With dismay, Naruto noticed that there were quite a few zeros beside his name, most of them for unturned in homework assignments and incomplete projects by the look of it. His attendance also looked a little spotty, and the results of his tests weren't anything to boast about either.

Naruto scratched his head. Maybe there was something to worry about after all.

"As your teacher," Instructor Ebisu said, closing the book and putting it away. "I think it's my responsibility to tell you that if you don't manage a C or better on the mid term exam, I'm afraid I won't have any choice but to fail you. And if you fail…"

He let Naruto's imagination finish the sentence. It was like the warning that Instructor Kakashi had given him a few weeks before: if he messed up this exam, there was a very real possibility of he wouldn't be graduating at the end of the year. The complication, of course, was that while Naruto had a pretty good shot at passing Advanced Chakra Control, he didn't stand a snow ball's chance in hell at passing Applied Physics. And that, of course, was a bit of a problem.

"Instructor Ebisu," Naruto said. "I don't suppose you could help me out a little?"

"Probably. What chapter are you having trouble with?"

Naruto smiled broadly. "All of them?" he ventured hopefully.

Ebisu sighed deeply and massaged the bridge of his nose, no doubt wondering why he put up with as much as he did for as little as his salary commanded. It was always suspected that the instructors only chose their profession because they felt a deep responsibility for teaching the next generation of ninjas…or they were completely insane. There was really no middle ground, particularly when it came to students like Naruto who tested the patience of even the most dedicated teachers.

"I'll tell you what, Naruto," Ebisu said after he had collected himself. "I'm sure as hell not going to teach you all the lessons, but you might want to ask one of your classmates to help you."

Naruto paused. He didn't think he liked that idea.

"Like, Haruno Sakura." The sunglasses wearing Jounin suggested helpfully. "She's gotten straight A's on all of her exams. I bet if you asked nicely she might tutor you for an hour."

Now Naruto was _sure_ he didn't like that idea. As much as he still had a crush on Sakura, his infatuation for her couldn't compare to the world of pain she'd likely to inflict on him during the course of an hour long study session. He'd made the mistake of asking her to be his study buddy for a History test during their freshman year of high school. Suffice to say, it didn't work out. Sakura had mostly yelled at Naruto for being stupid, hit him when he tried to flirt with her, and then, finally left in umbrage, cursing Naruto for being such an idiot.

Oh, and he had failed his test too.

Naruto shook his head. "Is there anyone else?" he asked hopefully.

A couple moments passed as Instructor Ebisu thought about question. It wasn't so much of a question of who was_ capable_ of teaching Naruto, but who was _willing_ to shoulder the painful responsibility. That automatically eliminated most of the legible tutors, leaving only a few. Well, one actually, but to be honest, matching Naruto up with _her _of all peoplejust seemed like bad idea.

After considering this, though, Ebisu shrugged. What was life without a little bit of excitement anyhow?

"Naruto, go ask Hyuga Hinata. She's one of the best students in the class, and to be honest here, I think she might be the only one you have a chance of convincing to tutor you."

_Hinata! _That was such a great idea! Naruto scolded himself for not having thought of it on his own. Hinata was definitely one of the better students in the class and certainly exponentially more adept at Applied Physics than Naruto.

Excited, Naruto hastily thanked his instructor and dashed out of the room. The last period of the day had just ended. He would have to hurry if he hoped to catch Hinata before she left for home with her servant. The last thing he wanted was her father, or any other of the Hyuga clan, to become wise of the growing intimacy between himself and Hinata. Sure enough, he spotted her at her locker as she putting away her heavy textbooks from classes before.

"Hey, Hinata." Naruto said. He grabbed one of Hinata's books from her arms. "Here, let me help you."

Hinata didn't reply, only nodded her head in acknowledgement. Naruto raised an eyebrow. There was something different about Hinata today. She looked more withdrawn than usual, quieter and gloomier.

"Something wrong?" He wondered.

She managed a weak smile and shook her head. "No, Naruto. I'm fine. Did you need something?"

"Yeah…" Naruto began hesitantly. "You know that Applied Physics test coming up? I was wondering if you could help me study for it."

Her smile intensified, this time looking almost genuine. "Sure. I can't today, sorry. Maybe tomorrow after school?"

Naruto beamed. "Excellent! Thanks a ton, Hinata! It's a date then?"

Hinata nodded. Without thinking about it, without thinking about the implications her words held, she replied, "Yeah. It's a date."

-----------------------  
Author's Notes: HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVANGELION! Hard to believe it's been ten years since whiney Shinji instigated the apocalypse. Gosh how I miss those days. Oh, and THANK YOU guys for 55,000 hits and a nice 15/1 review ratio. Keep up the good work!

Voting time again! I'm thinking of either writing an Omake (described below) or continue on with the next chapter (also described below) take a vote for which one you'd like to see! Again, reviews are always incredibly appreciated. I promised myself I wouldn't beg, but, uh…yeah. Thanks!

As if Konoha didn't have enough stuff to worry about, the Hokage decides it's a good idea to celebrate Christmas with a Christmas Dance, which, naturally, isn't a good idea at all. Dates must be sought on, confessions made, fears overcome, and presents wrapped if the young ninjas of Konoha High want this to be the most memorable Christmas ever. Oh, and a renegade ninja is trying to kill Naruto. _Again._ All this and more in **Chapter Twenty Four: This is Going to be the Best Christmas. Evar. **

Or

Uchiha Sasuke is betrothed to the beautiful heir of the prestigious Hyuga clan, Hinata, but one fateful day, a complete incompetent, bumbling, inept, hands down the _worst pirate ever, _Uzumaki Naruto and his crew hijack their ship and make off with his fiancé. Now it's up to him and Hinata's cousin and bodyguard, Neji, to rush to her rescue…even if it means joining a crew of female pirates lead by the infamous Haruno Sakura. Inspired by the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. AU and the such.

Tell me what you think!


	24. Chapter 24

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Zombies are eating my brain! If you see a zombie, shoot it in the head!

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world waits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twenty-Four: This Is Going to Be The Best Christmas. Evar. **

"Kakashi, you're late!"

"What's your excuse this time?"

"Get lost on the walk of –shit! I keep forgetting what he says."

Kakashi just glared at his fellow instructors irritably as he entered the Hokage's office. A meeting had been called for all the instructors to assemble, and Kakashi had made it a point to attend, healing battle injuries and all. Not that there was much left to heal; the medics had done a good job patching him up. The only thing they hadn't been able to immediately fix was his broken leg, and so now it was encased in a very inconvenient cast.

He made his way across the room, a cumbersome task with his crutches clomping down noisily with every awkward step, and plopped down on a nearby sofa. He was sorely tempted to take a kunai and cut his way out of his cast -he knew for a fact that he didn't really need the damn thing for his bones to heal properly -but the healers would be furious, and the last thing he wanted was to have to tolerate their incessant hassling. On the other hand, though, in the meanwhile, he would have to endure another sort of hassling, namely the sarcastic, taunting variety he was receiving from his heartless, entirely unsympathetic co-workers. The assholes.

Involuntarily, he rubbed the spot on the back of his neck where a needle from an unknown assailant had lodged in his spinal column, momentary paralyzing him. It had healed, but the memory of the fiasco in Kakami still lingered. It bothered him to no end that someone had managed to sneak up on him and dispatch him with ease, as if he was some fledgling Genin. Why they hadn't killed him when they had the chance, Kakashi could only speculate, but even then he had barely escaped with his life. If his students hadn't found him and rushed him to a local hospital, he might've been lying on that remote bridge for a long time, slowly bleeding to death from his wounds.

Still, the mission had been declared an overall success by the Hokage. Valuable information had been recovered, including a new file on a potential associate of Zabuza's, and Gato had been apprehended. Of course, the latter achievement was quickly forgotten when Gato was found murdered in his interrogation cell not even a day after his arrest. Being a non-ninja, there was only so much information one could derive from studying the dead gangster's corpse, none of which was believed to be of any importance. A potential source of vitally important information had been wasted by the enemy.

"Kakashi," Tsunade asked, eyeing the white-haired Instructor critically. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Kakashi waved his hand dismissively. "Plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead."

Tsunade rolled her eyes and let it go. She knew better than to waste her time arguing with the obstinate silver-haired Jounin. If Hatake Kakashi wanted to kill himself from over exertion that his concern.

From one of the many drawers in her desk, Tsunade produced a large stack of papers which she began leafing through, periodically pausing to ball up a sheet and toss it into the waste bin. The Jounin instructors waited in silence as their Hokage worked, none of their impatience visible but existent all the same. Tsunade's organizational skills were the thing of legend, and suffice to say, this wasn't the first time that the teachers had had to wait for Tsunade to locate a particularly elusive sheet of paperwork. Shizune had volunteered numerous times to sort through them, but each time Tsunade had adamantly refused, preferring to handle the responsibility herself. Not that she had ever gotten around to it of course, but it was an admirable, yet, suffice to say, irritating, gesture all the same.

The large, bear-like ninja, Asuma, frowned and chain smoked his way through a packet of cigarettes while Kurenai gave him a menacing glare, a not so subtle reminder that he was breaking his promise _again _to swear off his smokes, which Asuma blatantly ignored by lighting up a new one with the old one. Ebisu and Iruka were discussing something or the other, Anko was busy munching away on some fish balls with Shizune, and Kakashi had his nose buried in his book next to Jiraiya, who was fast asleep.

The finest of Konoha's ninjas all assembled in the same room…all bored out of their mind while their unorganized leader waded her way through the endless mountains of papers, cursing and yelling all the way. No demonic monsters to seal, no renegade ninjas to capture –it was just another typical day at Konoha High.

"Aha!" declared Tsunade triumphantly after a few more minutes of frantic searching. In her hands was a bundle of crumpled papers covered in illegible scribble. "Found it! This week's schedule!"

"Terrific," muttered Anko darkly, clapping her hands in mock applause.

Tsunade gave Anko a very dirty look, but wisely decided not to peruse Anko disrespect with the tongue lashing she justly deserved. The rest of the instructors were getting antsy; it would only be a matter of time before they too joined Anko in her insubordinate behavior. She clicked her tongue disgustedly and reshuffled the papers in her hands. They were all such children!

"I gathered you here to discuss a matter of great importance," Tsunade said gravely.

The instructors perked up, leaning forward in anxious anticipation. It was no secret they lived in a time of great tribulation and uncertainty. First there had been that fiasco involving Gato, and now they had _the _Orochimaru looming his ugly head again. What could be so important that the Hokage had assembled the instructors together? A matter of school security? National security? A dangerous S-Ranked mission perhaps?

"I've gathered you here to discuss," The Hokage continued dramatically. The instructors slowly gravitated nearer and nearer towards their leader with each word, suspense drawing them in like magnet. "_The Annual Christmas Dance_!"

Simultaneously, the instructors groaned loudly and collapsed back to their original spots. They should have expected it really, but they had let their hopes get the better of them, and now they were woefully crestfallen, crushed underneath the waves of reality. Tsunade was not known for being rational at the best of times; why would she be any different today?

It was Anko who stated the obvious. "Hokage, the Christmas Dance is important and everything, but don't we have more important things to discuss? Like the traitor we have and oh, just maybe, _Orochimaru?"_

Kakashi leaned forward, his pink novella no where to be seen, which, everyone agreed, was a first. "I agree, Tsunade. Shouldn't we prioritize on the threat that Orochimaru presents to Konoha?"

Tsunade sighed wearily. "Jiraiya, please take this one."

All eyes turned to the wizened, frog hermit who looked momentarily bewildered to suddenly be the center of attention. It probably didn't help he was holding a pornographic magazine either at the moment. He quickly tossed it aside and sat up, clearing his throat in a dignified sort of way.

"We have ANBU working around the clock on the issue," Jiraiya explained. "For obvious security reasons, we're being extremely secretive about our counter-surveillance operations on Orochimaru. That means the less people who know about what we're doing, the better."

He gave Kakashi a sly look. "In fact, Captain Uzuki is leading the operation. I'm surprised she didn't tell you."

Kakashi nodded, but didn't react to the information that his ex-subordinate, the purple haired ANBU assassin, was keeping him out of the loop. Not because it didn't irk him –it most certainly did –but he was trained better than to reveal this.

Section seven, article fourteen of the Complete Rules and Regulations for the Konoha Ninja Corps read: A ninja must never show his emotions. That meant anger, fear, sorrow –even the slightest infringement of this rule could compromise an operative in the field.

"Look, guys," Tsunade said. "I'm sorry for keeping you guys in the dark about Orochimaru, but right now it's vital for Konoha to keep functioning normally. That means the school too. If anyone outside of ANBU or the staff finds out that there' even the outside chance that Orochimaru is back, can you imagine how people will react?"

She had a point. The very name, Orochimaru, inspired such fear and terror in the hearts of the people of Konoha, normal humans and ninja alike. He was one of the most powerful ninjas in the world, rivaling even the combined strengths of the legendary ninjas like Tsunade and Jiraiya, and worst, he was a psychotic menace. He had also been one of their own a long time ago, a fellow Konoha ninja.

"I just don't like the idea of not being active in hunting that bastard down," growled Asuma. He was upset, Kakashi could tell. Neither Asuma's voice nor face relayed any of the inner pain he was experiencing, but Kakashi noticed that he wasn't puffing on his cigarettes anymore. The only time he didn't smoke was when he was very upset.

And he had every right to be. Orochimaru had only murdered his father, the Third Hokage.

Tsunade shrugged. She wasn't being callous or cruel, but practical, and she hoped her instructors could tell the difference. "I need you guys to keep the school running as if nothing is amiss, and that includes the Christmas Dance."

The rest of the meeting went by without incident. The basic outline for the dance was laid out. A week after final exams were complete, they would their annual dance to celebrate the end of one year, and the welcoming of the next. Adolescent immaturity while acquiring dates and awkward moments of romantic tension on the dance floor included. Some assembly required. It was tradition. Tsunade remembered when she had gone and Jiraiya had had the gull to ask her for a date…seconds after a failed attempt to look up her dress.

The latter half had been a sweet gesture, one that Tsunade didn't even think Jiraiya was capable of. But, suffice to say, Tsunade had rejected him, and Jiraiya mysteriously wound up in the hospital with two broken legs and a shattered pelvis.

After the meeting was complete, the instructors left, leaving only Tsunade and Jiraiya in the Hokage's office.

"How's Naruto doing?" Tsunade asked once the door had closed.

"Same as always. Terrible grades, but a good spirit about it all the same." Jiraiya replied.

"Don't be a smart ass," the Hokage snapped impatiently. "You know what I mean. Is the Fourth's seal still intact?"

A grim silence passed between the two legendary ninjas, and when Jiraiya spoke again, it was without the light-hearted aloofness he was renowned for. "It's weakening. I'm theorizing, and Shizune agrees, that whenever Naruto is subjected to battlefield stress, the seal's strength diminishes."

He gave her a shrewd look. "This is why you sent him to Kakami after all, right?"

Tsunade ignored the question, or more specifically, the silent accusation it implied. Every one of the Genin had gone on the mission with the idea that they had been handpicked for a special reason. Most of them were elected because they were exceptional; Naruto, however, wasn't. In Tsunade's eyes he was a mediocre ninja –it was only the Kyubi inside of him that made him special.

"Can you renew it again?" Tsunade asked.

Jiraiya shook his head. "I could, but it wouldn't do much. At this rate, the seal is going to become weaker and weaker, and to be honest, I'm not sure how this is going to affect Naruto."

"You've speculated though."

"Naturally." Jiraiya affirmed with a sigh. "Shizune and I have speculated that in the event the seal breaks down, the Kyubi will spread and contaminate its host, causing corruption of the psyche, deterioration of the mind…"

"In another words the Kyubi will possess Naruto?"

The old hermit nodded gravely.

Tsunade mulled that over for a few minutes. "Set up a surveillance team on Naruto. If anything goes wrong, I want to be able to contain the situation quickly. Having people freak out about the Kyubi is the last thing I want."

If anything, the Kyubi was probably the only thing the people of Konoha feared even more than Orochimaru. And that was saying something.

Jiraiya rose from his chair. "In the meanwhile," he said as he moved towards the door. "I'm going to go through my apprentice's notes. Maybe there's something that could help us."

The door closed again. Tsunade groaned and relaxed into her chair. As she did, she spotted a framed picture she kept on her desk. In it was a young Third Hokage, and standing beneath him was a snobbish looking, girl with blonde hair, and a petulant looking boy with spiky white hair.

A small smile crossed her face. That was her and Jiraiya over forty years ago when they had been Genin under the tutelage of Instructor Sarutobi, the man who would become the Third Hokage. They looked so happy back then, before the wars, before the killing.

Then, she saw the other boy, a handsome kid with pale skin and black hair, standing beside her. He wasn't smiling, but then again, he never did. Tsunade always thought it was because geniuses like him were too busy thinking of great things to smile, and she thought that was cool. Little did she know that behind that gorgeous face and brilliant mind lurked a psychotic, twisted murderer she would grow to despise and hate.

Her smile faded.

_Orochimaru…_

_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _

It always amazed him how quickly winter crept upon the land of Konoha, the cold weather every bit as surreptitious and clandestine as the village ninjas the country had come to foster. One day it had been autumn, the weather cool but pleasant, and then the next winter had descended upon them like a thief in the night. The greenery, the lush leaves and fertile grass, the very essence of the Leaf nation had vanished underneath a blanket of sparkling white. It looked like Snow Country, the winter landscape almost indistinguishable from Konoha's artic allies'. The air was frigid, the wind bitter and chilling, but there was a certain beauty to the sparkling, freshly fallen snow that made the frosty weather almost bearable.

Not that Naruto had any appreciation for the beauty of nature. It was freezing in this god forsaken hellhole, and the fact that his pants were soaked from sitting in the snow didn't make things any better.

"Hinata," Naruto whined. "Can't we study inside?"

Hinata looked up from the heavy text book she had cradled in her lap. "No," she said exasperatedly. "Every time we go inside you get distracted! The only way you're ever going to learn the material is if you actually pay attention for more than three seconds."

"But it's so cold!" he protested. "I promise I'll concentrate if we go inside!"

Hinata shook her head. "That's what you said last time! And within two minutes you were throwing stuff at the sophomores! No, we're staying out here until you're ready for your exam, and that's final!"

Naruto moaned and slumped further against the tree he was sitting under. Hinata wasn't sympathetic. Isolating himself from his friends was the only way Hinata could get Naruto to study. Well, that and it gave the two of them some time alone…not that that was her primary motivation…sort of…

"Try number seven again, and show me your work this time." Hinata instructed. While Naruto began working, her gaze meandered to the small road that stretched from the dormitories to the rest of Konoha's sprawling campus. Periodically students would pass by, waving or giving an acknowledging nod of their head as they walked by. However, sometimes Hinata would see a dating couple walk by, and naturally they were too immersed in cuddling, holding hands, kissing, or whatever, to even notice them.

Oh how she envied their happiness.

She knew most of the happy couples that strolled past, hand in hand. Shimo and Keiko, Hitsugaya and Hinamori, Neji and Tenten, Shuya and No-

What the hell? Neji and Tenten?

Startled, Hinata suddenly lurched forward and stealthily peered over the top of her text book. There was no mistaking it. Walking down the road towards them, holding hands and chatting freely, was none other than her cousin, Hyuga Neji, and Tenten. When had this happened? Or more precisely, how could it have happened without Hinata, or anyone else for that matter, figuring it out?

Neji and Tenten? It seemed so weird and yet so perfectly right. Hadn't they after all been training together all these years, and hadn't they spent all that time together on that mission in Kakami? It made one wonder how much of that time had actually been spent _training_…

But Neji had always been so cold, so unemotional, so uninterested in every girl that swooned at his approach. What was so special about Tenten that she was able to finally thaw that icy demeanor of his?

Curious, Hinata was about to inch nearer to get a closer look when Naruto tugged at her sleeve. He held out his paper for her approval. She frowned, a little disappointed. A more in-depth investigation would have to wait until later.

"Wow," Hinata said after she had looked over Naruto's work. "You actually got it right!"

Naruto flinched. _Actually _got it rightOuch. "Yeah, yeah. Can we go back inside now?"

"You answered on question right, Naruto." She pointed out. "There'll be sixty on the final."

"C'mon. We can do that later! Besides, it's freezing out here! Let's go get some hot chocolate or something." He shivered dramatically to emphasize his point.

Hinata giggled. It _was_ a little cold outside, she had to admit, and a nice cup of hot chocolate with Naruto _would_ be nice. "Fine, but only for a little." she said, trying to sound impatient with Naruto's constant attempts to get out of work. The cheeky grin on Naruto's face told her she had failed.

Naruto eagerly hopped up and helped Hinata to her feet.

"Only for a minute though," Hinata said.

"Sure." Naruto agreed. He gave her a sly wink. "Only for a minute."

They trudged their way to the path, the same walkway that all those other dating couples had taken. Hinata glanced at Naruto. In her most private daydream this was when Naruto would wrap his arm around her waist and pull her close to keep her warm. Their fingers would intertwine, and then slowly, his lips would inch closer to hers until they met in a moment of fiery passion.

But alas…it was only a dream.

"Hey Hinata, I was wondering, after we're done studying, do you want to go do something fun?" Naruto offered. "Not that studying isn't fun or anything."

Hinata smiled sadly. "Sorry, but I…"

"Have to go home?" Naruto finished disappointedly, kicking the snow idly and stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I'm sorry." She muttered, feeling awful. Only a month ago she would have done anything for Naruto to ask her on a date, and now here she was, turning him down not once, but twice. "My father wants me home by dinner time."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Not a big deal." He smiled at her, and before Hinata knew it, he reached out and took her hand in his. Hinata felt her breath catch, but she didn't draw away. She felt her face flush a brilliant shade of red, and suddenly, even in the middle of the snow, it hardly seemed cold anymore.

"We're just going to have to make the most of our study session then, right?" Naruto asked.

She was screaming for joy on the inside, giddy with delight, but as always, her innate shyness kept her from speaking what she truly wished to express. Mentally, Hinata scolded herself. She had been doing so great at conversing with Naruto while helping him study, but the moment any form of amorous contact was made, all confidence melted away into a pool of uncertainty and timidity.

"S-sure, y-yeah." She stammered, hating herself for sounding like such an idiot.

But Naruto didn't care. He chuckled and gave her hand a friendly, reassuring squeeze, and together, they set off down the path.

Hinata closed her eyes and savored the moment, reveling in the euphoric bliss that washed over her. It wasn't exactly like her fantasy, but it was close enough.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

On the outskirts of the city, a stranger had arrived in Konoha. The snow and dirt covering his sandals made it clear that he was a traveler, and yet he bore no luggage, nor showed any signs that he owned anything more than the black cloak he wore over his clothes. He quickly passed through the security check point at the main gates, breezing past the sentries without so much as a second glance, and within minutes he found himself on a main road heading into the heart of the ninja village.

A bitter gust of wind whipped at the hem of his robe as he strolled down the street. The robe was a thin garment, hardly sufficient to shield him from the cold elements, and yet he proudly wore it. There was nothing special about, no signs of exceptional craftsmanship. The only thing that would have distinguished it from any other traveling cloak was the ornate designs –swirling red clouds –that was embroidered into the black fabric.

The stranger passed through the mid-afternoon crowd swiftly, weaving in and out of the masses with an ease and grace that belied his ninja heritage. He wore a Leaf Village forehead protector, but unlike many of the ninja in the village, there was no pride in the manner in which he wore it. While many made it a point to polish and maintain the symbol of Konoha's military might, the stranger's was caked with dirt, scratched from years of use, and a deep crack ran through the middle.

The stranger paused in the middle of the road, his eyes silently appraising the Hokage monument that loomed ahead. In the distance, he could make out Konoha High and the Hokage's office, a familiar sight that he had not seen for years. He might have smiled as his mind recalled nostalgic memories of the past, but it had been years since he had smiled last and his face no longer remembered how.

He continued walking again. A minute had been wasted to sate the small part of him that still yearned to behold his birthplace, and now he had work to do.

Uchiha Itachi had come home.

-----------------------------------------------  
Author's Notes:  
The _Pirates _idea got voted down pretty heavily, so chances are we won't see an Omake any time soon. Besides, I'd feel silly writing one when an incredibly good one, _Captain Neji and the Hidden Straits of Death, _by wildcat already exists. It's everything I envisioned mine to be and more! Fan of Pirates of the Caribbean and Naruto? Be sure to check it out!

Oh, and crazy! I just found out I even have some readers over at BleachForums! I'm a huge Bleach fan too (if you didn't catch the little reference in this chapter) –I really need to catch up with the rest of the series. Hitsugaya is the coolest! Oh, and for more anime related news, Evangelion RE-Take 4 just got scanned but not translated. It's incredibly wicked cool!

Blah, also, I made a journal, so if you're interested in tracking the progress of a Ninja's Guide, I usually post drafts, random bits of fan art or other Naruto related things. The address is xanga(dot)com/NinjaGuide. It's also in my profile if fanfictionnet censors it.

So, yup. Till the next time! Be sure to review!

What happens when estranged brothers meet over cups of hot chocolate? Crazy, incest, shounen-ai man love? Haha. That'll be the day. Find out in **Chapter Twenty-Four: Deadly Hot Chocolate** coming soon!


	25. Chapter 25 OMAKE

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Save the Penguins!

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**IMPORANT AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
I'm taking a break from the regular storyline of a Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School and instead writing a short filler if you will (you know, those retarded things that keep the anime from moving on to the next story arc?) about Naruto and company's regular school life. Take note, the filler takes place before the first chapter. Comments, critiques, praises etc are always very welcome.

**Chapter Sixteen: A Ninja's Guide to Sex Ed (Omake)  
Part IV: Day Two Part I (AKA: A Walk to Remember...Sort of)  
**

"Sakura?"

Uchiha Sasuke was sitting there, clad in only a pair of shorts. His well toned body, an atlas of masculine perfection, was on display for her eyes only, a visual feast in which she gladly partook in. She was sitting across from him, her bare legs brushing against his as the two reclined on the grassy banks of the river.

"Yes, Sasuke?" she asked.

He leaned towards her, his faster growing closer and closer until their noses touched. His body pressed against hers, and together they fell back into the grassy blanket beneath them. Their eyes met emerald upon onyx in a blissful moment that lingered on for an eternity.

"Kiss me." He whispered.

"Oh, Sasuke," she said breathlessly. "Say it one more time."

"Kis-"

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The electronic beeping shattered the tranquility like a baseball smashing into a glass window into a million pieces. No, like a baseball smashing a priceless vase, a work of art, into an insignificant mess. That was what was happening. Something beautiful and priceless was being destroyed right before her eyes, and she was powerless to stop it.

"Sasuke! Come back!" she screamed, but it was already too late. Sasuke was gone. The grass, the sky, the river –they all vanished from around her, replaced by a spacious, white void that expanded endlessly in all directions.

Then she woke up.

_Beep! Beep! Beep!_

_Oh, son of a…_

With a bellowing inhuman roar, Sakura grabbed the digital alarm clock from off her beside dresser and hurled it at the wall. Only she missed the wall. Still disoriented from the abrupt extraction from her blissful fantasy, she managed to toss the blaring clock straight at her bedroom window. The fragile glass pane reacted exactly the way physics dictated when the clock hit it: it exploded. Shards of glass, pieces of the wooden frame, and the broken remains of her poor alarm clock cascaded down on the streets below, a rainstorm of debris that sent the pedestrians of Konoha scurrying for cover amidst a chorus of disgruntled curses.

Somewhere in the distance, a cat hissed defiantly.

Sakura groaned in dismay and buried her face in her pillow. Not only had the damn clock ruined her dream, but it would also cost her next month's allowance to fix her window too.

Her eyes closed, and she had almost dozed off to sleep once again, when suddenly her head jerked up with a start. What time was it? She frantically looked for her alarm clock and then realized it was lying in pieces in front of her house. Sakura scowled darkly and leaned over her bed and began rummaging through her backpack until she located her cell phone buried in one of the pockets. She flipped it open, and the luminescent numbers on the screen told her the time.

"Shit!" she swore. "I'm late!"

She made to leap out of bed, but suddenly something snagged on the back of her nightgown, and before Sakura knew what was happening, she landed on the floor. It was amazing how deceptively soft a carpeted floor looked until you hit your face on one, Sakura mused as she lay there, moaning in agony. With a soft groan, she staggered back to her feet, and when she saw what had happened, she groaned again. Her night gown had torn from where it had snagged on a broken piece of her bed's headboard, ripping the back of the thin garment practically into two.

_Ok, calm down, Sakura, _she mentally told herself. _You'll have to replace the alarm clock, fix the window, and buy another designer night gown…no problem…no problem…nothing I can't handle. _

She kept repeating this in her mind as she stalked into the bathroom. She undressed quickly, casting her ruined night gown in the trash before entering the shower and turning on the water. Immediately a jet of water splashed down on the pink-haired ninja, and from there, everything should have been just fine. Only it wasn't. The water was supposed to be hot, revitalizing and relaxing. Instead, it was freezing cold.

_Someone used all the hot water! _Sakura thought darkly as goose bumps began forming on her skin. The water was unbearable. Any colder and it would have been ice cubes pouring down from the shower head. She washed quickly, shivering every step of the way from the cold, and then jumped out of the shower.

After a cold shower it was important to dry off quickly lest you catch a cold. Or that was the urban legend anyway. So of course there wasn't a towel hanging on the metal rack where it always was. Sakura closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, her breasts rising and falling as she tried to keep her breathing steady. Hyperventilating and passing out wouldn't help anything.

So instead, her hands doing an inefficient job of covering herself, Sakura stalked over to her dresser and began going through it. Her underwear, thank goodness, hadn't mysteriously disappeared, and Sakura sighed in relief as she put it on. But the outfit she had put out the night before, her brad new, cute little mini skirt and matching top, was nowhere to be seen. In its place, dangling on the hanger where her clothes were supposed to be, was a white piece of paper.

_Dear Sakura,_

_I thought I told you to put your new clothes in the wash! They're in the laundry machine washing. You're just going to have to wear something else. –Mother._

"Shit!" Sakura swore. No longer able to keep her growing anger under control, she decided to vent her frustration on her dresser and kicked it as hard as she could.

Sometimes Sakura regretted being a ninja. This was one of those moments. A normal person would've maybe bruised their toe from kicking Sakura's heavy, oak dresser, but a ninja whose specialty was super natural strength in unarmed combat?

_Alright, I'm going to have to pay to repair the dresser too, _Sakura mused miserably, almost on the verge of hysterics now.

No longer caring, she grabbed a pair of jeans and a light pink shirt from her closet, and threw them on. It wasn't the classiest outfit she had ever worn, and Ino would probably tease her at school for wearing it, but it would have to do. She grabbed her book bag from the floor and went down stairs towards the kitchen.

The kitchen was empty, and the dining table was bare. Of course. Sakura's mother went to work early today and didn't have time to make breakfast for her. It was Sakura's job to wake up early and prepare food if she wanted to eat. Yet another thing she had forgotten about.

"It's fine," Sakura lied to herself, trying to ignore the hunger pains that wracked her empty stomach. "I'm not that hungry anyway."

She flung the door open and strolled outside, pausing long enough to slam the door shut before setting her foot on the concrete road leading to Konoha High. Vaguely, she wondered if it was even possible for the day to get any worst than it already had. First she had woken up late, then the window, then the shower, then the dresser, then breakfast…

What else could possibly go wrong?

As if to answer, a loud clap of thunder echoed in the air, and a bolt of lightening forked across the sky. It never occurred to Sakura before then how dark it was outside, and how grim the billowing grey clouds overhead looked. Muttering curses, she turned around to walk back in the house and fetch an umbrella. Her hand closed around the door knob and she pushed the door open.

_Click._

Sakura swore again. The door must have locked when it closed. She reached for her keys, but her hands only scraped the clothe interior of her jean pockets. Her eyes widened, panic setting in as the ominous implication of what this meant began to dawn on her. She checked again, digging frantically into her pockets, but it was a fruitless gesture. The keys weren't there because Sakura had been too distracted with the plethora of other disasters this morning and had forgotten to grab them.

A cold wind rushed past, whipping Sakura's shoulder length pink hair into her face and sending an unpleasant chill down her spine.

She turned away from her door in defeat and began walking towards school. Even if she started running now, there was no way she would be able to reach the sanctuary of Konoha High before it started pouring. It was inevitable for her to get soaked and show up late and looking like a wet dog. Her classmates would make fun of her, and Sasuke…Sasuke would probably think she was the biggest idiot in the world. And he would be right. She was an idiot.

A soft sob escaped her lips and tears of frustration welled up in her emerald eyes. At least it was official now. There was absolutely no way the day could get worst. Well, maybe if a car hit her and broke both her legs, but then at least she wouldn't have to go to school.

Sakura stalked down the sidewalk, tears streaming down the side of her face. She wanted to yell, wanted to scream, wanted to hit something if only to protest the injustice of the world. But it would make no difference. Haruno Sakura was having a crappy day, and surrounded only by her own misery, there was no one who would care.

"Oy, Sakura-chan!" a voice called from behind her.

Startled, Sakura paused and turned around. Running down the sidewalk towards her was Naruto.

Somehow her day had just gotten worst and it hadn't even taken a speeding car to do it. Amazing.

"What do you want, Naruto?" Sakura snapped. She rubbed her eyes, trying to hide her tears.

"Can I walk with you to class?" he asked.

"Aren't you already doing that?" she replied snappishly.

Naruto cocked his head to the side, a puzzled look on his face followed by a look of dawning enlightenment. "Oh yeah," he said. "Well, then can I carry your bag?"

"No," Sakura began to protest. She was a freaking ninja for crying out loud. Her training dictated that she should be able to carry a ninja twice her weight on her back for miles without assistance; she sincerely doubted a couple school books and a pad of paper would strain her endurance any. "I don't –Hey!"

Naruto grabbed her book bag and slung it over his shoulder beside his. He started walking. Sakura had no choice but to reluctantly follow him. They walked without speaking for a while. Sakura was too busy glowering and wallowing in self pity and Naruto was whistling an obscure tune while idly kicking a soda can down the street.

"Hey," Sakura said suddenly, breaking the silence between the two classmates. She glanced at Naruto. "You're not wearing your normal clothes."

Naruto always wore that ridiculous orange track suit of his, but today, he was wearing a pair of faded jeans, a white shirt, and a jacket. He almost looked normal for a change.

The spiky-haired ninja nodded, "Yeah, I forgot I put it in the wash so I had to wear something else. Then I burned my eggs on the stove and had to put out a small fire in my kitchen. Then I tripped down the stairs and had to pick up all my books and stuff. Then I locked myself out of my dorm."

Sakura couldn't help but notice that despite all the bad news, Naruto was still smiling. "Wow, sounds like you had a pretty crappy morning too."

"Yup."

"You don't look too bothered by it." She observed. "How come?"

Naruto winked at her. "Because now I'm with you."

It was probably the cheesiest thing Sakura had ever heard in her life, but it was also so ridiculously sweet and romantic that it made her heart flutter. But only for a moment. It was Naruto after all. He was probably just messing around with her, flirting but only in jest without any sincerity backing his words. Or was he?

She flushed, and when she was sure Naruto was busy staring up at the sky, she stole a glance at him. It never failed to astound her how much he had grown. He was taller than her now, and his boyish features had changed too. They were sharper now; manlier but with a trace of lingering femininity that Sakura had to admit was attractive, but only in a very Naruto-ish kind of manner.

She had to admit, he was no longer that little twerp she harassed during kindergarten, but a growing man. Not that his behavior was any indication. While his body may have grown, his personality was still that of hyperactive child, complete with all the unpredictability and spontaneity that drove all the instructors crazy.

Sakura mulled on this for a few minutes as they continued their walk to school. She knew he had a crush on her; it was common knowledge at school much to her embarrassment, but never had she taken him too seriously. He was alright, she guessed, always kind and dedicatedly loyal. Hell, he even made her laugh sometimes with his devious pranks and practical jokes.

They had just passed the halfway mark to school, a small, red wooden bridge that crossed over a running river, when it began to rain. It came down light at first, an icy mist that would have been relaxing if it wasn't a portent of the torrential downpour that was soon to follow.

Naruto took off his jacket and without a word, lifted it above their heads to shield themselves from the rain.

"You don't have to do that," Sakura protested.

He ignored her.

It began raining harder. Surprisingly the jacket kept them dry. Or Sakura was at least. Naruto's head was closer to the jacket, and droplets of water kept seeping through and landing on his hair. He didn't seem to mind though.

A few minutes later and Sakura was wishing she had worn something warmer. Even with Naruto's jacket, she could still feel the cold. The rain splashing their heels was freezing, and the gusts of wind didn't help matters either. Involuntarily, she drew closer to Naruto, finding solace in the warmth his body radiated.

"Getting kind of cozy, isn't it?" Naruto teased.

Sakura blushed again, but her need to keep warm kept her from retreating from Naruto's side. Instead, she muttered, "shut up," without any real sincerity at all. Naruto must have noticed because he began chuckling.

They walked without speaking for another few minutes. School was getting closer, but the streets were empty. Everyone else was already at school. It was just Naruto and Sakura who would be tardy, and for Naruto, that was nothing new at all. The instructor would be surprised that the normally studious Sakura would be late for first period, but Naruto? It was a _surprise _if he was actually_ on time. _

Naruto seemed to know what Sakura was thinking. "We're going to be late anyway, Sakura. You might as well relax."

"Just because you're always late doesn't mean the rest of us enjoy it." Shot back Sakura, perhaps a bit more caustically than she intended. She hated being late for class, and the prospect of ruining her perfect attendance bothered her.

Naruto stopped walking, but he didn't look upset. Instead, there was something akin to pity in his cerulean eyes. After a moment, Sakura found she couldn't meet his gaze and looked down at the floor. Guilt washed over her, making her stomach feel queasy. It wasn't Naruto's fault she was having such a lousy morning, and it wasn't his fault she was running late for school. He was going out of his way to help her; it seemed like the least she could do was to be as pleasant as possible during their walk to school.

She sighed deeply, relaxing some of the tension pent up in her body. They started walking again.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said suddenly. "I'm sorry about that poem yesterday. I know it upset you."

Sakura smiled. "No big deal. It was a good poem. It rhymed and everything. But, you know how sensitive I get when it comes to how I feel for Sasuke-kun."

She was careful to emphasize the last bit, to make it crystal clear to Naruto that she was interested in Sasuke and no one else. Not that it would really make much of a difference. Naruto was stubborn that way; Sakura could probably almost kill him and he would still harbor a crush for her.

Naruto scowled darkly at the mention of his rival's name and kicked the ground bitterly.

"What's your problem with Sasuke-kun anyway?" Sakura wondered.

"I don't know…" Naruto muttered. "It's just he's so…so…"

"Perfect?" she suggested.

"Well," his face contorted in a look of disgust, as if he had just swallowed something particularly distasteful. "Yeah, I guess. God, I can't believe I just said that."

Sakura supposed Naruto's confession was comforting in a way. At least it confirmed that she, or the entire female populace of Konoha High for that matter, wasn't completely blinded by Sasuke's charm. Guys too could see that Sasuke was talented beyond comparison, and that instilled hope in Sakura that it was possible that she wasn't as hopelessly in love with Sasuke as she previously believed. It proved that maybe, just maybe, part of her obsessive infatuation could be rationally justified.

She stifled a laugh and had to resist the urge to crack a gay joke about Naruto and Sasuke. The school had been ripe with them several years ago when they had "accidentally" kissed one another in quite possibly the most celebrated shonen-ai event since the advent of Sephiroth and Cloud. Sakura had been infuriated then, murderous even that Naruto had stolen Sasuke's first kiss, a momentous occasion that should have been reserved for _her_ and _her_ only.

But time had a habit of making even the greatest tragedies in life humorous, and Sakura had finally found it in her heart to finally forgive Naruto and laugh about it with everyone else. After about six years of silent resentment.

"No one's perfect," Sakura lied. If there was only one person in the entire world who could be perfect, Sasuke was definitely it. "We all have our strengths and weaknesses."

"Really?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What do you think my number one strength is?"

Sakura was surprised how easy it was to think of one, and how easy it was to say it with complete sincerity. "You're a good friend, Naruto."

"Good enough to get a date with you sometime?" he wondered, smiling hopefully.

Sakura shook her head. "Good try though."

The entrance to Konoha High could be seen in the distance, veiled in the curtains of pouring rain.

"I actually do feel more relaxed," Sakura confessed. "It's weird. I don't feel at all scared about showing up late. Normally I'd be freaking out now."

Naruto grinned. "I'm a horrible influence."

Sakura shook her head. "I think it's good for me to take it easy sometimes. You taught me that today."

The blonde-haired ninja scratched the back of his head embarrassedly.

They walked through the gates of Konoha High casually. There was no rush to their steps, no anxiousness in the way they approached the front doors of their high school. For once Sakura knew how Naruto felt, completely at ease with the world. No fear, no anxiety. They were already late; no amount of worrying or freaking out on their part could change that. Whatever happened would happen, and when it did, they would be waiting apathetically, a smile on their face.

The two ducked underneath the covered walkway heading to the front doors of Konoha High. The rain fell around them, splashing rhythmically on the sidewalk and nipping at them where they stood, dry and protected from the elements. The world beyond their sanctuary was grey, bleak and dreary, but standing beside Naruto, the warmth of his body positively washing over like a comforting blanket, everything felt like it might just be alright after all.

"Hey Naruto?" Sakura whispered. "Thanks."

She couldn't think of anything more to say than that. Thank you. It sounded like such an insignificant sentiment, and yet it conveyed gratitude so deep and sincere that it was impossible for Naruto to understand. Single handedly his presence, his friendship, his kindness and selflessness had saved her from her own misery.

Naruto favored her with a smile, but didn't say anything. But then he didn't need to. The smile said everything. It told her he _did_ understand.

She had to force herself to pry away from Naruto's side. If she stayed any longer, she might get caught up in the moment and so something she would regret. Naruto was a friend, but as much as he tried, he would never supplant the place Sasuke held in Sakura's heart.

Sakura had only taken a step when Naruto spoke.

"Hey, Sakura?" he asked. She turned and looked at him. He was holding his wet jacket. It was balled up in his hands, dripping from the downpour of rain water it had absorbed in the service of keeping them dry.

In one smooth motion, he took his jacket and rang it out. Right on Sakura's head. She shrieked in terror and put her arms to protect herself, but it was useless. A deluge of icy cold water splashed down on the shocked female ninja, matting her pink hair flat against her head and making her clothes cling unpleasantly to her skin. She shivered, the early autumn breeze suddenly seeming much colder than it had seconds ago.

Naruto grinned and gave her a mischievous wink. "Thanks.". Before Sakura could regain her senses and slug him, he dashed inside school.

Sakura just stared after the fleeing ninja in stunned disbelief. He didn't…he did…there was no way…

After all that, after fostering the hope that Naruto had matured into a man she might one day have feelings for, in the end, he really was nothing more than a prankster, a trouble maker, and a persistent thorn in Sakura's side.

He was just Uzumaki Naruto after all. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Her face contorted into a mask of mixed emotions; an amazing distortion of livid anger, disbelief, confusion, and hysterical amusement, all combined in a mask of killing fury. She was going to kill that little bastard.

"NARUTO!"

* * *

Author's Notes:  
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It's more Naru/Saku than usual, but it's a neat pairing to write with their love/hate relationship thing going on. I actually did a ton of writing this week –I have about 700 words done of the next chapter, and I wrote two drafts of the Omake. One draft rambled on and went on a completely random tangent involving yaoi fanfiction (readable on my xanga if you're curious to see how it could have happened) and the other is what you've just read. Couple of refrences to other movies, as well as a recreation of probably one of the THE most oftenly used openings to a Naruto high school fic. And speaking of fillers, I hear they're almost done and that Kakashi Gaiden will start soon! Awsome! 

Please read and review! Love them reviews! Every one makes me smile and feel happy. Tell me what you liked, didn't like, etc etc, but please, just tell me! Validate my existence! Thanks!


	26. Chapter 26

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Save the monkeys! The awesome ones that is. Not the evil ones.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Deadly Cups of Hot Chocolate**

"Now you remember," said Sasuke. He lowered the piping hot mug of hot chocolate and set it on the table, a fine veil of steam hiding the smugness in his smile as he leaned back in his chair and looked Sakura, who sitting across the table from him. "We're just here as friends."

"Of course," returned Sakura casually. "That's what you said, right?" She took another sip of her hot chocolate, a convenient excuse to disguise the frown of confliction on her face.

Was there just a tinge of accusation in his voice? Sakura wondered. A subtle allusion that he thought, or in all probability _knew, _that she had intended this get together as more than just friendly fraternizing? It was possible, and of course he would be right in his suspicions. While admittedly her admiration for Sasuke had declined to an almost quasi-manageable state, it was impossible to deny her attraction for him. Asking him out for a cup of coffee, or a date as she preferred to think of it as, had seemed like a perfectly simple choice to make.

Of course Sasuke didn't think of it as a "date." No, to him, this was strictly a "friendly get together," the relational equivalent of hanging out with the guys sort of thing. On the romance scale, a "friendly get together" ranked a solid three out of ten, implying a platonic friendship, but none of the endearing affection that Sakura yearned for.

However, in girl terminology, his choice of phraseology might suggest the paradoxical presumption of "interested, but not really." Translated, Sasuke _might _have the slightest smidgen of feeling for her, but was too hesitant, too proud, or too indifferent to express them. Regardless, there was definitely hope that Sasuke might one day return Sakura's unrequited love, but unfortunately, it was about as likely as Naruto accomplishing his dreams of becoming Hokage, which was, suffice to say, remote at best.

She suppressed a frustrated sigh and contented herself with taking another extra long sip from her mug. Sakura didn't know why she subjected herself to this torture. Sasuke wasn't the type who would fall in love with a girl like her; in all honesty, she was stunned he had even agreed to go out for a drink with her. Continuing to sustain the lofty ambitions of capturing Sasuke as a boyfriend seemed pointless, and perhaps, even masochistic. He might be going out on a "friendly get together" with her now, but it would inevitably only lead to more pain, frustration, and sadness later on then if he had simply refused her invite in the first place.

"Sakura? Are you feeling alright?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura's flushed a deep shade of red and cleared her throat conscientiously. She must've been staring off into space and had that glazed, vacant, look in her eyes as she lost herself in thought.

Eager to change topics, she hastily asked, "How are your wounds healing?"

Sasuke shrugged. He had just been released from the hospital that morning, and the bandages that still adorned his arms and most of his torso were fresh. "They're doing fine. I just need to make sure I change these bandages tonight."

"I can help you with that," Sakura offered. Sasuke looked at her oddly, but then again, after a moment of thinking about it, it _was _an odd offer to be making. Alone with Sasuke. With his shirt off. Yummy. She coughed and quickly added, "Because, you know, I'm training to become a healer and everything…"

Her voice trailed off and she grimaced and stared dejectedly at the table. Dumb, Sakura! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

"Alright," said Sasuke after a long while. "That sounds like a good idea."

Sakura suddenly jerked her head up in surprise. "What? Really?"

Sasuke nodded. "Sure. The doctor said I'd need assistance changing the bandages anyway, and since you're more qualified of a healer than I am, it can't hurt for you to help me out."

Sakura waited for the other shoe to drop, the impending, "just kidding" from Sasuke that would reduce her to tears. But it never came. Sasuke was serious. Her face grew warm, and her heart began to beat faster and faster, a thudding staccato in her chest that seemed embarrassingly loud, even in the raucous environs of a crowded coffee shop.

"Just as friends though," Sasuke said. He took another gulp of his hot chocolate, emptying his mug. "Think you can handle that?"

She feigned a haughty laugh in return. "I know I can, Sasuke, but can you?"

He smirked that trademark smirk of his, a composition of twenty-five percent humor, five percent irony, and seventy-five percent snarky cockiness, and said, "I think I can manage."

They chatted for another fifteen minutes or so without nothing particularly new or important being tossed out into the conversation. Sakura didn't care though. She merely sipped at her hot chocolate, which had long since gone cold, enjoying Sasuke's company and savoring the prospect of seeing him again later that night. She had managed to secure another date with Sasuke; nothing else mattered. Boy, Ino would be furious when she found out.

It would be vindictive, childish even, to use this unexpected windfall serve as a platform to get one over her childhood friend, but Sakura didn't know if she could resist the temptation. Ino certainly wasn't above breaking a few rules of friendship to try to get ahead in their rivalry for Sasuke, so why should Sakura feel bad about rubbing this in her face? But then again, even if she did take the high road and elect _not _to tell Ino, the blonde-haired psychic would just pick it from her brain sooner or later. And then the sparks would fly, and Ino would be even madder at Sakura for breaking that sacred bond of friendship by _not _divulging secrets to her.

Girls were quite complicated that way. Guys were expected to shrug off things like this with casual indifference lest they be labeled as being overly sensitive and possibly queer. But with girls, even the slightest breach in the policies governing feminine sisterhood could result in catastrophic consequences.

Suddenly, Sakura's phone beeped. With an annoyed frown, she dug it out of her pocket and looked at the message displayed on the screen.

"Need to be home?" Sasuke guessed.

Sakura nodded sadly. "Yeah, dinner time already."

"No problem," he said. "I'll see you later on tonight then?"

She smiled. "Count on it."

For a moment they stared at each other from across the table. Sakura felt like she should say or do something more, something profound. Normally, this would be Sasuke's cue to lean forward and give her a peck on the cheek or something of the sort, something that would make Sakura feel valued and special to him as they parted ways. But of course he didn't move.

Sasuke watched as Sakura waved goodbye and then left the coffee house. He felt like he should've done something just then, but his mind had been elsewhere when Sakura had risen from her seat and departed.

There was something wrong.

He looked around the coffee house and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Normal villagers were seated throughout the café, waitresses were bringing out mugs of hot coffee or coco to their patrons, customers were queuing in line, eager to be out of the cold –nothing that could justify the grim feeling growing in his gut. But there was no denying the premonition of danger lingering in the air, a pervasive aura of ominous predictions that Sasuke couldn't understand.

His hands began to shake, and cold sweat formed on his brow. He took a deep breath and tried to collect himself, but nothing he could do could keep his limbs from trembling. It was fear, icy, cold, terror that engulfed his body, piercing through his flesh and clenching his soul in its paralyzing grip. Panicking, he whirled around frantically and looked behind again, trying to identify the elusive presence that antagonized his mind, but there was nothing.

"Good god, I thought she would never leave."

Sasuke froze, his eyes widening in horror. That voice! He knew that voice!

"A beautiful girl by all accounts, but then again, I suppose our family has never been lacking in the looks department, now have we?"

Where was that voice coming from?

"You know, your manners haven't improved since the last time we met. The very least you could do is turn around and face me…"

A pause, a moment of silence that seemed deafening loud in Sasuke's ears.

"…_little brother_."

Slowly, Sasuke turned around in his chair. Now, sitting across from him where Sakura had once sat, was the man who had once been his role model and idol, who had cared for him and loved him, who had taught him everything from ninja techniques to girls…

…The man who had murdered Sasuke's parents and destroyed everything Sasuke knew and loved.

"Itachi." Sasuke whispered.

* * *

When Reno joined the ANBU corps six months ago, he hadn't really expected an assignment of this nature. Plucked from the echelon of Konoha Jounin as being one of the highest ranking in undercover operations, he had been given his shot at becoming an ANBU, the black ops operatives of the Konoha military, with thirty other ninjas who showed just as much, if not more, promise as Reno.

But while the others might have been tougher, smarter, or more experienced than Reno, he was cleverer. Where some saw only obstacles, Reno saw opportunities and never hesitated to exploit them, quickly proving himself as a wily tactician whose flexible strategies were difficult to counter. He trounced his opponents on the battlefield; his naturally speed and agility, augmented by his intelligence, made him practically undefeatable.

He had graduated along with three other ninjas, and in exchange for the enigmatic and ominous animal masks of the ANBU, he lost his past. His personal file was destroyed, all ties with his family and friends severed. Even his true name had been deleted from Konoha's records; Reno was but a mere alias he had been given by the Hokage for this assignment.

For this particular mission, he had abandoned the body armor and animal mask and was once again under cover as…well… an average person. It wasn't his choice assignment, but Reno had to admit, it definitely had its perks. Like the stylish, black suit he wore, and the sleek, polished shoes that adorned his feet. And the designer sunglasses that rested on his forehead were just a plus, another miscellaneous expense that Reno would stick the Hokage with.

God, he looked good. All the women he had met so far had something complimentary about his appearance, which was indeed flattering for a man who had spent the better part of his life covered in dirt and the blood of his enemies. Not that he was old by any stretch of the imagination. Quite the contrary, his soft, almost feminine features, bespoke of his youth.

He ran a pale hand through his long, crimson colored hair and grimaced. His hair was long and unruly, spiking erratically in every which direction and ending in a long tail that fell halfway across his back. He would have to get it cut soon –ANBU policies had little tolerance for his attempts to style it. The haters. But while ANBU tried to restrict his efforts to look as good as possible, Reno had other ways to get around it.

He even had a walking stick, a black ornamental, metal rod, which he thought lent a refined, dignified, almost scholarly, air to his appearance. This, of course, was ironic since he possessed none of these attributes, and indeed, had never aspired to in the first place. Not that the ladies needed to know any of this. And if they did discover the truth, that he was little more than the kind of smooth talking playboy their mothers had warned them about, Reno would be long gone, a brief good-bye note on the girl's bedside table the only testament to their fleeting one night stand.

He didn't even use the stick while walking, content to casually rest it on his shoulder or dangle loosely from the leather lanyard around his wrist. He didn't have any use of it, of course; he was in perfect condition, The stick's purpose was completely cosmetic in that sense, but Reno carried it around religiously like a priest might carry their holy books. It was every much as an accessory as the shuriken pouch he had on the inside of his jacket, or the kunai holster strapped on his ankle, an essential component to his success as a black ops ninja.

"Reno, do you have a lock on our target?" came a booming voice in Reno's ear. The red-haired Jounin scowled and fidgeted with the small mechanical device lodged inside his ear. Damn thing never worked right.

"Yeah I see them, Rude."

Rude, a fellow ANBU operative who's name was in fact _not _Rude at all, was sitting at a bench a quarter of a mile down the road. He was a tall, bald, dark skinned man who was dressed just like Reno down to the opaque sunglasses covering his eyes. At the moment, he was pretending to read a newspaper.

"Status?"

"They're holding hands," Reno said with something akin to disgust in his voice. Here he was, a veteran of a dozen A-Rank missions and even one S-Rank mission, and what was his and Rude's vital assignment? Baby sitting a bunch of snot-nosed little academy brats!

Out of the corner of his eye, Reno spotted them walking down the path. The boy was blonde, loud and animate who spoke a mile a minute without any signs of slowing down. The girl he was holding hands with was just the opposite, quite and composed, more eager to listen than to add her two cents to the one-sided conversation. The boy was Naruto. The girl was Hinata.

Reno decided he hated them both.

But orders were orders, and as much as Reno loathed the idea of continuing this monotonous chore, fancy clothes or no, he was still a soldier and knew how to follow orders. Still, it didn't mean he had to like it. Oh no, he would whine and bitch every second of the way until Rude got so sick of him that he would go complain to the Hokage, who would, with any luck, take them off the job and stick some other sucker with it.

The red-haired Jounin frowned. Not that that would be happening any time soon. He had already been griping into the small microphone on the lapel of his jacket for over a half an hour, and Rude hadn't responded to any of Reno's attempts to agitate him. Reno didn't really expect him to. He had known Rude since their academy days and knew the statuette ninja would never budge.

"Any danger on the perimeter?" asked Rude. Good old Rude. All business. No fun. Very professional, but no personality. Good for up to a week without needing to recharge the batteries. Just have to check for rust periodically.

Reno sighed. "No."

"You didn't even look." Rude rebuked him. Or at least Reno thought he was being rebuked. It was hard to tell when his partner always spoke in a freaking monotone.

"I don't have to!" Reno snapped. "There's nothing there, Rude!"

"Reno, the Hokage wouldn't have given this assignment to ANBU unless it was crucially important."

The red-haired ANBU agent snorted. "Yeah, like that time we were sent to find the best recipe for maple syrup?"

Silence was Reno's only response.

_Yeah, bitch, _Reno crowed silently. _Got you good!_

But Rude did have a point, Reno conceded. He had read Naruto's report, and knew there was a demon sealed inside him. But everyone knew that story. It wasn't anything worth putting ANBU on the case. Unless of course there was a chance of the demon coming out…which would be…well…very, very bad.

Reno watched as Naruto leaned over and whispered something in Hinata's ear. She giggled. Reno shook his head. He had half a mind to run over there, smack Naruto in the head and give him some real pointers on how to handle girls. The retard would never score with his blue-haired hottie at this rate.

"Reno, check the perimeter." Rude instructed.

"Damn it, Rude! I did like five seconds ago!"

"No you didn't. You just said you did. Actually do it this time."

"Fine." Reno looked behind him. There was nothing but snow. Well, almost nothing but snow. "Activity at three o'clock, Rude! Jesus! Three o'clock!"

Rude casually looked down from his newspaper and turned to look in the direction Reno had told him. Then he raised the newspaper again, hiding his face from sight. "Reno…are those two squirrels in that tree…?"

"Humping? Yes, Rude, that's exactly what they're doing."

"You're an asshole."

Reno chuckled. He'd be called worst. He turned his attention back to the kids he was supposed to be keeping an eye on. Naruto had slipped an arm around Hinata's waist, pulling her close to him. No doubt the kid was trying to grab her ass, the sly bastard.

As he watched the two lovers, Reno over heard part of their conversation. Not much, though. He was too far away, but he caught bits and pieces, a word here and there, but enough to conclude that the two kids were heading for a nearby coffee shop.

"They're heading for the coffee shop, Rude." Reno told his partner. "I'll shadow them there. You set up a new observation point."

"Great," the other ANBU agent said. "Keep up the good work."

Terrific. A freaking coffee shop. Reno wouldn't be able to follow them inside without tipping the kid off that he was being followed, which meant Reno would end up standing outside chain smoking cigarettes until his fingers went numb from the cold. Nothing exciting would happen. No explosions or anything fun like that. It was a coffee shop for crying out loud! What could possibly happen there?

"I'm a voyeur," Reno told Rude. "I'm ANBU and I'm spying on underage kids."

"What are you complaining about?" Rude replied. "Didn't you say you wanted to do something you loved as a job?" He said this so plainly, it took Reno a second to realize that Rude had actually cracked a joke.

A moment of silence passed between the two ANBU agents.

"God damn, I hate you, Rude."

* * *

"Sasuke, you look good," Itachi commented. "A lot better than the last time I saw you, anyway."

Sasuke didn't know if this was Itachi's idea of a sick joke. The last time Itachi had seen Sasuke, he had left his younger brother curled up on the floor in the fetal position, sobbing pitifully in a puddle of his own vomit and urine. He decided to ignore it and eyed his older brother carefully. Itachi certainly didn't look any older. He was still tall, a few inches taller than Sasuke in fact, and had the same long black hair that all members of the Uchiha family shared. There were shadows underneath his eyes, as if he was fatigued, exhausted even, by some burden he bore.

A burden, say, like the guilt of murdering his entire clan.

"What do you want, Itachi?" Sasuke said tersely. He was proud of himself. He had mastered his shock and fear quickly. Never had he expected this opportunity to come so soon and abruptly, but Sasuke was ready. It was time to kill Itachi. Right then and there, he vowed that one of them would not leave the coffee shop alive.

Itachi smiled and took a sip of the coffee Sakura had left behind. He scowled. "Disgusting. Kind of reminds me the stuff mother used to make. Dad always said he loved it, but I knew he was lying."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he slammed his fist hard on the surface of the table. "Don't you ever talk about mother and father!" he yelled.

The smile on Itachi's face never wavered. "Please, Sasuke, calm down. You'll cause a scene." He smirked, the same smirk that Sasuke always used. "Oops, I forgot. We don't have to worry about that. I sort of hypnotized everyone inside the shop, so actually, you can go ahead and pout like a little bitch if you want to."

Sasuke screamed in fury and lunged at Itachi, but Itachi was ready. He barely rose from his seat, and with a single finger, poked Sasuke in his forehead. It wasn't a hard hit, barely more than tap, but it sent Sasuke flying back into his chair as if Itachi had slapped him.

"Ouch," Sasuke whimpered, rubbing the bruised spot where Itachi had poked him.

"I was always faster than you, little brother," Itachi said softly. Sasuke snarled and made to charge at him again, but Itachi raised a hand, momentarily halting his younger brother's assault. "Wait a second, let's sit down and discuss this like civilized human beings."

"Civilized human beings?" Sasuke roared. "You killed our parents you murderous prick!"

Itachi sighed, annoyed. He folded his hands and set them on the table's surface. "If I apologized would it make you feel any better?"

This time nothing could have kept Sasuke seated. He jumped forward, his seat falling backwards onto the ground with a loud clatter, and tossed a wild, roundhouse punch at Itachi's face. Casually, almost lazily, his brother caught the blow with his hand and pushed it aside with all the effort he might have spent yawning.

Sasuke wasn't done though. With a demented howl of fury, he charged at Itachi. Itachi rolled his eyes and in one smooth motion, backhanded Sasuke across the face. An echoing _slap _resounded in the now quiet coffee house, and Sasuke reeled backwards, a red, angry mark on his cheek and tears streaming from his eyes.

It wasn't the pain that caused Sasuke to cry. The slap wasn't meant as an attack. It was a rebuke, the kind of thing a parent would do to a petulant child. The humiliation was overwhelming. After all these years, Itachi still didn't view Sasuke as an equal, as a man or a ninja to be respected, but only a little kid.

"I'm going to kill you!" yelled Sasuke.

It didn't matter if Itachi respected him or treated him as an equal. Underestimating him was Itachi's mistake and would ultimately be his downfall as well. Sasuke was going to kill him, to avenge the death of his mother, father, and all his clan mates, just like he had promised for the last seven years. Revenge would be his.

"You can try." Itachi admitted. He didn't look at all phased by the murderous look on his brother's face. "But aren't you even the least bit curious why I sought you out, Sasuke? Believe me; it wasn't for the conversation, as stimulating as its proving to be."

"Why?" Sasuke demanded. He didn't know why Itachi had met him; he didn't care. Chakra began to flow into his hand, accumulating there in the beginning stages of the technique Kakashi had taught him, Chidori.

"I need your help." Said Itachi simply.

Sasuke looked at Itachi dumbfounded for a second, the shock paralyzing his mental process into a state of inaction. Itachi had murdered his parents, almost killed him, and now Itachi was coming back to his hometown, the last place in the world where he was welcome, and asking him for help? The audacity of the bastard.

"No," came Sasuke's equally simple answer.

Itachi sighed in resignation and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. "Alright. I guess we have to do things the hard way then."

Faster than the eye could follow, Itachi grabbed Sasuke by the front of his shirt and hurled the younger ninja at the wall. It happened too quickly to counter or change direction. Like a human projectile, Sasuke slammed into the concrete barrier and gasped in pain as something in his back shattered from the impact. He collapsed bonelessly to the floor, waves of nausea and agony threatening to overtake him. Weakly, he clambered to his feet and wiped the corner of his mouth.

He looked up, ready to make up for Itachi's unexpected attack, when Itachi struck again. Itachi drove his knee into Sasuke's belly, sending the younger ninja staggering backwards, but before Sasuke could recover, a fist collided into the side of his head. He was sent flying through the air, his body limp like a rag doll, and landed on the floor with a ground shaking _thud. _

"You're pathetic," Itachi mused as he walked over to his unmoving brother. He looked down at Sasuke disdainfully and slammed his boot into Sasuke's stomach. There was no emotion on Itachi's face as Sasuke screamed in agony, no mercy in those cold, red, eyes as a fountain of blood erupted from Sasuke's lips. "Anyone with the Sharingan could've seen that coming."

He lifted Sasuke up by his collar and slammed Sasuke against the wall hard enough to spider web the concrete. A sudden thought occurred to Itachi, and a smile, a small smile that reeked of sadistic humor, stretched across his face. "Or is it possible that you don't have your Sharingan yet?"

Sasuke squirmed beneath his brother's penetrating gaze, but no matter how hard he struggled, it was impossible to break free from Itachi's iron grip. Everyone in the Uchiha clan had the Sharingan, the bloodline that made them superior to any other ninja family in the village.

"You don't have it yet, do you, Sasuke?" Itachi jeered cruelly.

"Screw you!" Sasuke yelled defiantly.

"Let's see." The older of the Uchiha brothers pondered aloud, ignoring Sasuke. "In order to awaken the Sharingan, one must undergo a life threatening experience. I guess you haven't had too many of those."

Suddenly, Itachi's fingers encircled Sasuke's throat and began to squeeze.

Itachi smirked. "But I suppose we can change that."

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Reno and Rude? Believe it not, they're NOT the ones from Final Fantasy. Totally not. This chapter took a little longer because I lost my first draft when my computer crashed, taking all my precious files with it. It's OK though since the first draft sucked anyhow.

On a more serious note, I've noticed a decline of people reading A Ninja's Guide. Less hits, way less reviews, and I was wondering if that's indicative of a decline in interest. I understand a Ninja's Guide is getting longer and might not pick up as many new readers, but it would be nice just to find out who's still reading. Comments? Suggestions? Questions? I'm open to pretty much anything within reason.

Itachi, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata walk into a coffee shop. Then things just kind of get out of hand from there. And Reno and Rude have no idea what's going on. It's getting crazy up in here! Ah yeah! All this and more in **_Chapter Twenty-Seven: Unleashed! _**


	27. Chapter 27

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: I'm the juggernaut bi- yeah. Never mind.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Unleashed**

Ignoring the deafening thudding in his head, that wracking pain that accompanied the blanket of darkness descending over his eyes, Sasuke continued to force chakra into his hand. His lungs closed as Itachi's fingers dug into them, cutting off circulation and leaving him with only the meager amounts of oxygen he had wisely conserved seconds before Itachi had grabbed him. It wasn't much; maybe only seconds before his brain followed his lungs and shut down, but it was all the time he needed. Urgency guiding his actions, Sasuke diverted chakra away from every other part of his body, abandoning even the most fundamental functions to their natural devices, and into his hand. More and more poured into his fist, his veins bulging as they stretched to accommodate the excess energy.

His head began to swim and his vision blurred. Black dots danced before his eyes, but Sasuke gritted his teeth, determined not to fail. Clenching his eyes shut, he gave one final surge of effort. A long, angry scream was unleashed, a primal sound contorted by fury. For a moment, for Sasuke, the darkness was replaced by white, a brilliant curtain of bright light, as his powers passed their threshold, a literal chakra overload blinding him as it they overloaded the synapses traveling to his brain. But it didn't matter. He could feel chakra pulsating in his arm, just begging to be unleashed.

"Chidori!" he screamed. His hand exploded in a blaze of swirling chakra, a firestorm of blue flames that engulfed his hand and traveled up his arm. Bolts of crackling electricity enveloped his flesh, snapping and hissing with menacing potential.

Sasuke eyes snapped open, and for a moment, Sasuke could see his mirrored reflection in his brother's eyes. No longer were his eyes the cold, onyx hue.

"Whoever said I didn't have my Sharingan?" Sasuke sneered evilly. He leaned backward, his foot finding purchase on the concrete wall Itachi had slammed him against. With a wordless battle cry, he propelled Itachi away, and then leaped into the air. Itachi stumbled back, tripped on a chair that had fallen across his path, and fell on the ground.

He was defenseless. Sasuke hit the ceiling feet first and used it as a springboard to launch himself back towards the floor where Itachi lay vulnerable. He raised his fist, a wicked smile on his face, and when the time was right, he struck.

Sasuke's fist plowed through the ground, ripping up floor boards and concrete as his technique cut through anything that stood in its path. But there was no sensation of blood splattering on his arm, no satisfying experience of feeling his fist tear through flesh and bone. Snarling furiously, Sasuke pulled his fist out of the ground. Where Itachi had been only seconds ago was now a cragged crater, but the older Uchiha was nowhere to be seen.

His Sharingan gave Sasuke a split second warning of the fist that was careening towards the back of his skull. He trusted it, trusted the blurry precognitive vision that told him Itachi's next move, and quickly rolled to the side. But no matter how fast Sasuke reacted, even with the aid of his clan's magical eye, Itachi was faster. Itachi clipped the side of his head as he tried to dodge, knocking the younger Uchiha back with a sickening _thud_ as Sasuke's head whipped backward into the floor.

"Deception?" Itachi said with a tinge of approval. But whatever praise Itachi may have had for his brother quickly vanished, replaced by a stern frown. "I can't tell if I should be happy that my little brother has his Sharingan or mortally ashamed that he's too stupid to use it correctly."

Sasuke stirred and rose to his knees, shaking his head and trying his best to regain his footing. Itachi snorted in distain and gently nudged Sasuke in the ribs with his knee, pushing his brother on his back.

"You're pathetic," Itachi sneered. His foot pressed down on Sasuke's chest, pinning the writhing warrior to the ground, and he peered down into his brother's eyes. "How the hell do you ever expect to kill _me_ like this?"

No answer came readily to Sasuke. Maybe it was the enraged snarl that was busy trying to divest itself from where it was trapped in the bowels of his throat, or maybe it was because he was a little preoccupied with hanging onto the bare threads of consciousness he miraculously still retained. Or maybe it was because everything Itachi said, no matter how callous and cold, was absolutely true.

Sasuke was weak. No matter how hard he tried, he could not defeat Itachi. He had failed.

"What do you want from me?" Sasuke wheezed. He was surprised he could manage defiance or even talk for that matter through the shattered ribs that were caving in painfully under Itachi's foot. He looked desperately around the café for help, but no a soul stirred to come to his aid. Whatever hypnosis technique Itachi had them under, it was incredibly strong.

A cruel, malicious grin spread across Itachi's lips. He slapped Sasuke softly on his cheek, a childish, playful gesture that was perversion of the fraternal bond he and Sasuke shared. "Whoever I said I wanted anything _from _you?"

"W-what? Y-you said…"

"I said I needed your help, but that doesn't necessarily imply I needed your voluntary involvement in order to gain it."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke demanded.

Itachi sighed impatiently and gave Sasuke a reproachful look, as if he was politely condescending on a particularly obtuse child. "I and my associates are in the business of uh…'collecting', I suppose you could say, ninjas with unusual gifts. One of your peers happens to be one of them."

Powerful ninjas? But who amongst Sasuke's classmates could Itachi possibly want? Or, the more important question was, who was more powerful than himself? Neji was the only one who could even begin to compare with Sasuke, but certainly Itachi hadn't come all this way to recruit Neji, a devout loyalist of Konoha, for whatever devious schemes he was planning.

"W-what do I have to do with this?" Sasuke asked.

"You're going to help me find him. You're going to help me find the Kyubi."

Sasuke couldn't believe his ears. Itachi wanted the Kyubi, he wanted Naruto! But then, suddenly, it all made sense. Someone had been after Naruto in Kakami, and Kiba and Asuka had told Kakashi that they had confronted someone from Konoha. It could only have been Itachi!

"What do you bastards want with Naruto?" he yelled.

"We want nothing with that container, that revolting shell of mortal flesh. We want what's inside him. We want his soul! His essence! We want his power!" Itachi spat savagely.

Sasuke was taken aback. There was a conviction in Itachi's voice, a fervent zeal that Sasuke never remembered Itachi having for anything before. He sounded like a crazed follower of a cult, obsessed solely with the worship of the deity that resided in Naruto's body: The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, the Kyubi.

Suddenly, Itachi grabbed Sasuke by the throat and lifted him in the air. "Now where is he?" He snarled. Just like that, he reverted back to his business-as-usual self, a murderous, remorseless sociopath.

"He's not here!" Sasuke lied.

Then and there, he decided that no matter what, he would do his best to protect Naruto. He disliked the loud mouthed buffoon, but it didn't matter. Naruto was a Konoha ninja, just like Sasuke, and even though Sasuke was too weak to defeat Itachi, it was his duty to protect a fellow ally, even if it killed him. And Sasuke had little doubt that Itachi wouldn't hesitate to do so.

"He's on a mission!"

Itachi chuckled. "Rule number seventeen of the Ninja Handbook: a ninja will never betray his team mates." With his free hand, Itachi reached into his robes and removed a small knife. It was curved and its razor sharp edges glistened ominously under the café's lights. Without hesitation, Itachi plunged it into Sasuke's stomach.

Sasuke grunted from the impact as the blade ripped through his flesh. For a moment, he only felt a dull numbness in his gut. Then he felt the pain. He screamed, a long shrill noise that resounded in the quiet café.

"That's to show you I'm not screwing around, Sasuke." Itachi said sternly. "That hurt didn't it? It's a special chakra blade. It won't kill unless I want it to, but I guarantee you it will hurt like nothing that you've ever experienced in your life."

"He…he's not here!" Sasuke managed to sputter.

Itachi's only response was to withdraw the blade and stab it again into Sasuke's body.

Sasuke bit his lip until it tore open, trying to hold in the scream of absolute agony that clawed at his throat in a desperate bid to escape. Itachi was right. Never had he endured so much pain before. It felt like his body was being savagely ripped in half.

"That's twice." Itachi said softly. "Why are you protecting him, Sasuke? What is he to you? A friend?"

A friend? No. But then, what was Uzumaki Naruto to him, and why was he protecting him? He was nothing to Sasuke, a pestilence, an annoyance, a disgrace to ninja ideal. What did Sasuke care if Itachi whisked the pest away for whatever terrible scheme Itachi and his devious buddies were plotting?

"He's nothing to you, Sasuke," said Itachi. "He's not even human! He's a monster!"

A human, a monster, what difference did it make?

_You, Itachi, you're a bigger monster than Naruto will ever be! _Sasuke thought. Naruto might be useless, but he was more than just a vessel for a demonic monster. He was human, a creature who felt, loved, and cared. And maybe that was why Sasuke would never betray him.

"Just kill me, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled around a mouthful of blood.

Never would he turn against his fellow comrade like Itachi had done. No matter what, no matter how much pain he had to endure before Itachi finally grew tired of torturing him and ended it, he would never become the monster his older brother had become.

Itachi sighed, withdrew his knife, and allowed Sasuke to fall limply on the floor. He kneeled over his younger brother, and raised the blade high over his head.

"You really are pathetic, Sasuke." He said.

Sasuke snorted defiantly and turned his head away from Itachi so he wouldn't have to look at his brother as the killing blow fell. Instead, he turned his gaze so that he could see out the café's front window. It was snowing again, and outside, covered in snow, was a cherry blossom tree. Most of its branches were bare, but one stubborn pink petal hung on. All alone, it's radiant, pink, petals stood out amidst the white, a beacon of life in the dreary winter land.

It was funny how seconds away from death, the only thing he could think about was her.

"Sorry, Sakura." Sasuke whispered.

He heard the blade fall, heard the deadly noise as the knife cut through the air, but there was no pain as the sharp edge tore through his torso. He could feel a dull numbness as blood soaked through his shirt, but no pain, even when Itachi removed the blood stained knife and stowed it away. Sasuke looked down at his stomach and placed a hand over the wound. Streams of scarlet seeped through the cracks in his fingers, brimming over the makeshift dam that tried to hold the flood at bay. His legs gave out and with a grunt he fell on the floor, his body splashing in something wet and warm. It took him a second to realize it was a pool of his own blood he was lying in; not that it mattered or anything. Everything was going dark, sliding out of a focus like a faulty projector, flickering images before his eyes in the fading light.

But there was no pain.

"Why aren't I dead?" he wondered aloud.

Suddenly, the world transformed before his eyes, lost in a whirlwind of distorted sound and blurred colors. A cyclone of images flashed before his eyes, incoherent snippets of dialogue and insensible noises echoed in his ears. A bright light filled his eyes, a brilliant white light that enveloped his mind in its purifying embrace. And then there was darkness.

"Now, aren't we glad we had this conversation?"

It was Itachi's voice hovering on the verge of the darkness that blinded Sasuke.

"Go ahead, open your eyes."

Sasuke obeyed even though he couldn't recall ever closing them in the first place. He was sitting at the coffee table again. Itachi was seated across from him, smiling shrewdly.

"W-what's going on?" Sasuke whispered. The café was unscathed, devoid of the broken furniture and shattered floorboards that resulted from his and Itachi's skirmish. He gingerly touched his stomach, searching for the grievous wound that was supposed to have killed him. But there was nothing. His flesh was whole.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Itachi smiled favorably at his younger brother. "A test, that's all, compliments of our family heritage, Sasuke. And you performed admirably."

"A test?"

A test. An illusion. The byproduct of Itachi's Sharingan. That was the second gift of the Sharingan: the Gift of Illusions. The first gift was the Gift of Foresight, but the second level of evolution of the Uchiha family's legacy was the ability to create illusions so realistic and convincing that it could easily deceive anyone but _another _Sharingan wielder.

And Sasuke had walked right into it.

Itachi had his Sharingan turned on all the time, unlike Sasuke who activated his only when he had too. The moment Itachi had sat down at the coffee table, Sasuke had been trapped in one of his elaborate illusions.

All of that, that torture, his death…it had all been a game to Itachi.

The realization made Sasuke physically ill, and he leaned over and threw up on the ground.

"A test." Itachi confirmed, scooting his chair further away from Itachi in fear that he might throw up again.

"So all that about Naruto…"

"Oh, that was real." Itachi said casually. "The whole entire torturing you thing was really just for kicks. You know, just to check up on my little brother."

Sasuke's stomach churned, and he vomited again, spewing his disgust and loathing across the floor. Breathing heavily, he wiped traces of spittle from his mouth and snarled, "Test or not, you still won't get my help."

The older Uchiha shrugged. He rose and began walking towards the front door of the café. "Not a big deal. I'll find him on my own."

Sasuke tried to rise from his chair, but his legs gave way instantly and he collapsed back into his seat. He felt weak, powerless almost, as if someone had drained every ounce of his energy into a giant, invisible vacuum. He moaned softly and tried to stand again, but he might as well have been trying to do so with a thousand pound weights strapped to his chest. His entire body refused to budge.

He had to get out of here and warn Naruto. Maybe if he found him before Itachi did, they would be able to get him somewhere safe. Naruto was dumb, but not clueless. Between the two of them, maybe they could manage something to avoid Itachi long enough for ANBU to get their act together.

And maybe…

The front door of the café opened, a soft bell's chiming announcing the arrival of new patrons. Not that it was necessary. The loud, obnoxiously familiar voice that shattered the tense silence was proclamation enough.

"I'm telling you, Hinata, this place has the best-"

Sasuke groaned miserably.

And maybe Naruto would walk right through the front door, right into the palm of Itachi's hands.

"Ara?" Naruto queried as he surveyed the café. The coffee shop was unusually quiet given the amount of patrons that were seated throughout the building, and the man standing in front of the entrance was looking at him kind of funny. The stranger was a few inches taller than Naruto, garbed in an odd cloak, and though Naruto had never met him before, there was something uncannily familiar about him that made the young ninja uneasy. He chuckled nervously. "Something wrong, buddy?"

He shifted to the side to look around the stranger, and saw Sasuke slumped over at a nearby table. His eyes narrowed. "Sasuke, what are _you _doing here?"

Sasuke managed to twist his body around so he was staring straight at Naruto and Hinata. "Run!" he screamed. "Get out of here, now!"

Hinata grabbed Naruto's arm instinctively. "What's going on, Naruto?" she whispered fearfully.

"That's a good question," Naruto replied. His body tensed up, every muscle alert and ready for action. "What's going on, Sasuke?"

"It's Itachi, Naruto! Run!"

"Itachi?" Naruto wondered aloud. The name sounded familiar, but where had he heard it from? The only time he recalled hearing the name Itachi was on a graduation plaque that Naruto had to polish for detention. But that Itachi had been an Uchiha, who had gone on to massacre his entire clan and become a fugitive of Konoha and S-Ranked criminal. But that could only mean…

Realization dawned on Naruto like a slap to the back of his head. His face paled. "Oh fu-"

Itachi struck like a viper, knocking Naruto aside and grabbing Hinata by her throat. She screamed in surprise, but her ninja training quickly took over. Even with Itachi's fingers clenched around her neck, she twisted her body in midair and sent a vicious kick at Itachi's face. However, Itachi merely reclined his head, allowing Hinata's foot to flash centimeters away from his face.

"Let me go!" Hinata yelled. "Let me –ga!"

Itachi's fingers closed tightly around Hinata's throat, cutting off her protests as well as her oxygen. He held her high in the air and brutally slammed her against the wall, pinning her there securely as she flailed violently in a vain attempt to free herself.

Naruto scrambled to his feet, his fists clenched and blood dripping from his lip. "Let her go!" He yelled.

"Come with me," Itachi said. "I have need of you."

"What?" the young ninja exclaimed incredulously. "Sorry, I don't roll that way, but maybe Sasuke over there-"

Itachi rolled his eyes and slammed his fist into Hinata's stomach. She elicited a sort of half-choked scream of pain which made Naruto cringe. "Come with me and she lives."

Naruto roared in fury and threw himself at Itachi, fists flying. He unleashed a barrage of blindingly fast punches and kicks, but Itachi effortlessly countered them all. He blocked a wild round-house kick of Naruto's with his free arm, and retaliated, planting a firm kick in Naruto's belly. The blonde ninja flew backwards, crashing into tables and chairs and knocking them askew. He clambered back to his feet.

"You have no choice," Itachi said plainly. "Come with me peacefully and I won't break your friend's neck."

"You're one of them. One of those guys who was after me in Kakami." Naruto decided. He slammed his fist into the wall. "What the hell do you want with me?"

"We want don't want you, we want the Kyubi. And we'll do anything to get it."

The Kyubi. The Demon Fox.

"N…naruto," Hinata gasped.

"Hinata, don't say anything," Naruto urged. To Itachi, he asked, "You promise you won't hurt her?"

Sasuke tried to stand again, but he didn't even make it a meter before he tripped and fell. "Don't do it, Naruto! Don't let him get what he wants!"

Smoothly, Itachi reached into his cloak and removed a knife. Sasuke blanched. "Come with me, or the girl dies."

Tears began to stream from Hinata's pale eyes as she turned her head to stare pleadingly at Naruto.

Naruto gritted his teeth and growled angrily. He couldn't let Itachi hurt Hinata, but there was no way he could defeat Itachi and free her himself. If what Sasuke said was true, only someone like Kakashi had a chance of taking Itachi on. But at the same time, he couldn't let anyone else suffer just because of who _he _was. The Kyubi had murdered thousands eighteen years ago; a long time ago he had vowed no more would die for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

"Let her go," Naruto said in defeat. "I'll come peacefully."

Itachi complied and tossed Hinata's body at the blonde-haired ninja. Naruto caught her and gently lowered her to the floor. Holding her in his arms, Naruto shook her until her eyes opened and met his. He smiled.

"Hey, are you OK?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded weakly. With a sob, she flung her arms around Naruto and buried her face in his chest. "Run, Naruto!" she screamed. "Don't go with him, please!"

Naruto stroked her silky hair and grinned roguishly. "Don't worry about me." He said.

"No!" she protested frantically. "Not for me, Naruto! Never for me!"

Naruto carefully peeled himself away from her grasp and stood up to face Itachi. He could still hear Hinata telling him to run, telling him not to sacrifice himself for her benefit, but he tried to ignore it, no matter how much his heart screamed for him to follow her advice. She and Sasuke were in no shape to escape. If Naruto managed to get away, they would be as good as dead.

"A deal's a deal." He said. "So, what now?"

Itachi stowed the knife away, and exchanged it for an odd looking device that resembled a collar of sorts. "A chakra inhibitor," he explained. He tossed it to Naruto. "To ensure you remain compliant. Put it on."

Naruto caught it, but he didn't put it on. Itachi waited. A minute past. Then two. Then three. The blonde-haired ninja continued to hold the collar, staring at it wordlessly as if transfixed by the device, but making no attempt to put it on.

"Look," Itachi said, quickly losing his patience with the entire thing. He could understand reluctance. After all, who would be eager to put on a dog collar that would sap an individual of all their chakra? But enough was enough. "We had a deal, right?"

Naruto's only response was to take the collar and close his hand around it. It cracked noisily in his clenched fist, the components it was made of _snapping _and _popping _loudly. He ground it up further and then slowly opened his hand, deliberately letting Itachi watch as the fragmented remains of his collar cascaded to the ground.

"_Maybe that brat said something about a deal,"_

Itachi raised an eyebrow. It was Naruto who said this, but at the same time, the voice sounded nothing like him. It was deeper, grittier; nothing at all like the mischievous playful lilt of Naruto's.

"_But there's no way in hell I'm going to give up to scum like you."_

Slowly, Naruto's head rose and he looked at Itachi. Itachi's eyebrow perked up and he involuntarily took a step back. Sasuke gasped. Hinata moaned softly in despair.

There was an ominous glow in Naruto's eye, a raging fire that burned deep within his soul. He chuckled sinisterly, a coarse noise redolent with sadistic glee. Before their eyes, Naruto was transforming. The sound of fabric tearing could be heard as a furry tail, sprouted from his pelvis. His hands changed, his nails elongating until they were claws the size of knives, and his teeth as well resembled canine fangs moments later. He dropped to all fours, crouching down like a predatory animal, his blazing eyes watching Itachi with a cruel smile on his face.

So this, Hinata thought, this was what her parents had warned her about. This is what every villager in Konoha feared. This was the dark secret that Naruto had alluded to in Kakami, but never had Hinata imagined it could be so terrible. Where once stood her friend, her crush, not stood a demon of hate, an abomination.

Naruto, no, the Kyubi, roared a primal scream of fury that sent tremors through the ground. Flames of chakra erupted from his body, swirling around his being to form a protective sort of shield around him.

"_You want the Kyubi so bad?" _it asked Itachi. "_Well now you got him."_

* * *

Author's Notes:

Yay! Finally done. Sorry it took me so long to update. And I wasn't really that happy with this one to boot. So yeah, been having a hard time writing as of late. Though that's no reflection on you guys. You did a terrific job of reviewing last chapter and it really made me happy! Keep up the great work guys!

Went to The Reactor 2006 in Chicago, IL this weekend. It was pretty awesome. I met Brion (really nice guy by the way), author of Flipside the hit fantasy web comic, Felipe Smith (also really nice guy), author of MBQ, and I also got a chance to meet the My Way Entertainment crew who are best known for their hit youtube parody I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch! They're about as funny as you would imagine them to be, but still, surprisingly normal. Great time. Picked up a really nicely drawn 4th Hokage Doujinshi (not hentai or yaoi! Zounds!) though stuff like that really hurts my wallet.

And what the crap was with 328? I don't think I'll ever be happy again. sobs

Please read and review!


	28. Chapter 28

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Gears of War is awesome! Go play it!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Demons and Seals**

Reno let out a slow, weary sigh and tossed away his cigarette. It arced as it traveled through the sky, leaving a trail of burning embers while it made its descent into the growing pile of smoking cigarette butts. The red-haired ANBU operative leaned back against the concrete wall of the small bakery that stood adjacent of the café the two kids had walked into. He couldn't follow them inside. It would be too much to hope that they wouldn't spot him inside such a crowded environment. So instead he was stationed outside, watching the front door carefully for any suspicious activity. As of yet, there had not been any. Strangely enough, since Naruto and Hinata's arrival, not a single customer had entered the shop. It was odd considering it was both lunch time and cold as hell outside; the latter which Reno could readily testify to.

He narrowed his eyes and tried to peer through the front window, but couldn't see through the opaque pane the owner had installed. It was one of those one-sided jobbies –the patrons could look out, but passing pedestrians could not see any further than the "Pen-Pen's Coffee House" that was painted on the darkened window. It was a security concern, but not an excessively large one. If someone were to make a move against Naruto, they would do it in an isolated area, far removed from the center of traffic in Konoha.

"Rude, what's the situation back there?"

Rude was stationed on a roof top above the back door. If Reno squinted, he could almost see the sun reflecting off the top of his polished, bald, dome.

"No activity."

That pretty much summed up this entire lackluster mission thus far. He reached into his jacket and removed a fresh cigarette and lit it. The nicotine would help soothe his agitation, but nothing short of a spectacularly bloody murder could help his boredom at this point.

"Alright, Rude," Reno said, taking a long drag from his cigarette. "Stay sharp. I'll contact you again in –wait a second, did someone just scream?"

Rude said something, but Reno wasn't listening. He was staring intently at the coffee shop again, waiting to hear something that would confirm his suspicion. He was sure he had heard someone scream, a terrified female voice that had come from the coffee house's direction.

He started walking towards the coffee house, curious to take a cursory look inside, when he heard the roar, a blood curdling, ear splitting noise that rent apart the silent, winter afternoon. No human could have made that noise. Throwing caution to the wind, Reno snapped up his cane and ran towards the front door. Pressing the microphone against his mouth as he sped towards the café, he yelled,

"Rude! Get in the café, now!"

"What's going on, Reno? I heard someone yell and-"

"Get in there now!" Reno shouted.

With only a meter separating him at the coffee house, Reno leaped and took down the door with a flying kick. He rolled over the fallen door and sprang to his feet, rod held loosely by his side in a combat ready stance. Almost immediately, Reno spotted over twenty subjects, half of which were customers and not of any concern. The ones who did were two students Reno recognized as academy students, one unknown perpetuator dressed in strange robes, and lastly, the kid.

Only he wasn't a kid anymore. He was on all fours and it looked as if someone had poured a blanket of flames over his body. A blazing inferno surrounded the kid, but he seemed unscathed by the fire. In fact, it almost appeared as if the fire was feeding on him, fueled by the terrific aura of energy that radiated from the kid. Razor sharp claws had sprouted from his palms, and the tail he had grown, a real-life tail, now flickered back and forth over his head.

"Oh Christ," Reno whispered. He had seen pictures of the Kyubi when he was younger, grainy black and white photographs that were in his academy text books when he was in school, and while Naruto still appeared more human than fox, the resemblance was not hard to miss. The seal Tsunade had told Reno about apparently had finally failed.

Holding his walking stick out threateningly, Reno said sternly, "I don't know if you can still hear me or not, kid, but it's time for you to back down, _now_!"

"_Who are you to tell me what to do, impudent worm?" _Naruto snarled.

Reno snickered, finding arrogance in the face of such grotesque danger. "ANBU Operative, Third Class, motherfucker, that's who, yo. Now I suggest you un-demonize yourself sharpish before I have to lay down some serious ass kicking."

"_You're _ANBU?" the cloaked man asked, obviously not impressed. "Gods the village really has gone to the birds."

Reno glared at the man. "Shut the hell up." He told him. "And don't think I don't recognize you, Uchiha Itachi. As soon as I'm done here, you're next."

Naruto, no, the Kyubi turned its head to glare at Reno. "_I'm going to savor gnawing on your bones, human!"_

That was enough for Reno. With a loud battle cry, he lunged at the Kyubi, stick ready to strike. He never even got close. In mid-air, a tendril of flames suddenly shot from the Kyubi's body and struck Reno across the face. The red-haired ANBU agent's head whipped back from the impact, and he was flung backwards into a wall. Reno didn't get back up; his nightstick rolled from his loose fingers.

Two things happened next.

The back door flew open and Rude charged into the room. At that same moment, Itachi bolted for the front door. Naruto let loose a furious roar and lunged for the fleeing Uchiha, but Rude moved to intercept the Kyubi. Enraged at seeing his partner go down, he unleashed a haymaker of vengeance, a powerful blow that crashed into the side of Naruto's head. Rude was a melee striker and could channel absurd amounts of his chakra into his fists, not unlike the techniques Sakura and the Hokage utilized. A single one of Rude's strikes should have crushed a man's skull, but against the Kyubi, it was only enough to knock it slightly off course.

And piss it off. The Kyubi gnashed its teeth and whirled around, whipping its tail at Rude. It caught him full in the chest with the force of a hammer, lashing the bald ANBU agent with chakra flames as it sent him sprawling across the café like a rag doll. Rude stirred briefly, trying to stagger back to his feet, but with a defeated groan he sagged back to the ground.

With both ANBU disposed of, the Kyubi searched for Itachi again, its blazing eyes hungrily as it searched for where his quarry had gone. But Itachi was nowhere to be seen. Amidst all the chaos, the renegade ninja had vanished.

Hinata moaned in pain as she regained conscientiousness, but the moment she saw the Kyubi turn his attention to her, she regretfully wished she hadn't. It pandered over towards her, saliva dripping from its clenched jaws in a display of primal excitement, no semblance of the boy she loved remaining in the monster he had transformed into. She cringed as the Kyubi reached down and caressed her flesh, every touch from the demon's hands a violation of the budding relation she and Naruto shared. She closed her eyes and tried to block out its coarse touch, the razor sharp claws as they slowly traversed the contours of her face. She couldn't escape. After her beating from Itachi, she could barely stand.

"If you're going to kill me," she whispered softly, but earnestly. "Then hurry up and do so."

The Kyubi chortled humorously. "_A quick death? No, human bitch, I'm going to make you scream…" _It flexed its claws, and the ten deadly knives that adorned its hands clinked together in chorus of promised torture to come. It pressed the tip of one razor sharp nail against Hinata's face and pressed down until a small spot of blood appeared against her pale skin.

"_By the time I'm through with you…" _Agonizingly slowly, he dragged his claw, drawing a bloody line down Hinata's cheek. He grinned wickedly when he saw Hinata flinch as his claws pierced her pretty face, drawing sadistic pleasure from seeing her bleed. "_…You're going to be begging me to kill you in anyway I please…as long it means an end to the pain…"_

All this time, Sasuke had been lying still on the ground, bruised and shaken by his brother's mental assault on his psyche, but physically unscathed. He waited patiently, biding his time as the Kyubi first defeated the ANBU agents and then his attention to Hinata. Sasuke was not dumb. He had heard the stories about the Kyubi's strength, and the fact that Naruto, no the monster within, had taken down elite Konoha ninjas was enough to warrant at least some caution. But when the beast finally turned his back on him to torture Hinata, he acted.

Grabbing a shard of glass off the floor, he hurled it straight at the demon's head. The sharp projectile plunged into the back of the fox's head, burying itself deep in a spray of blood that soaked Naruto's blonde hair crimson, but what should have been a deadly attack barely stunned the demon. Almost as if pestered by an annoying fly, the Kyubi tore the glass out of its skull and tossed it aside.

"_Fine," _the demon growled. _"I guess I'll kill you first!"_

The Kyubi started at Sasuke, talons ready to shred the Uchiha into bloody shreds, but suddenly it paused. It froze in mid-step, and for a second, it seemed to hesitate. Uncertainty flashed across its face, and the color of its eyes flickered back and forth, shifting from Naruto's cerulean to the beast's blazing red. It grabbed its head and stumbled backwards, and then it began screaming at itself.

"_Get out of my head!" _The demon shouted.

"Leave my friends alone!"Naruto's voice countered.

It dropped to its knees, convulsing and swaying back and forth.

"_This is my body now, mortal scum!"_

"Not for long! I'm not going to let you hurt any more of my friends!"

"_You're pathetic! If it wasn't for me, you would already be dead!"_

Though badly wounded, Sasuke could not help but be intrigued by what he was witnessing. Naruto and the Kyubi were one in the same, split personalities where Naruto was normally the dominant persona. But apparently in the heat of combat Naruto had relinquished control to the Kyubi in order to defend them, but was now battling to regain control of the hellish force he had released.

And he was losing too. The Kyubi stopped shaking, and its eyes dispelled any trace of blue in them. Slowly, it rose to its feet and popped its claws in a hideous sound _snikt _that sent a chill down Sasuke's spine.

It lunged at Sasuke, but it didn't even make it halfway there before it stopped in its tracks again. This time, however, it had nothing to do with Naruto resisting the Kyubi. Unseen by all of them, a serpent's nest of black shadows had suddenly appeared around Naruto's legs, wrapping them in an iron-like vice and securing him into place.

Hinata's eyes widened and her heart soared. She only knew of one ninja who was capable of doing that!

And sure enough, a second later, Konoha's laziest ninja dropped down beside Hinata with a weary, lackadaisical sort of sigh. "This is so tiresome," Shikamaru groaned. His hands were clasped together, the final hand seal in order to use his clan's infamous Shadow Bind technique.

"Choji!" he shouted. "Go for it!"

His hands sprang apart, and the shadows holding the Kyubi disappeared, but before the demon could take advantage of his freedom, a gigantic form of muscle, fat, and flesh smashed into the beast. It was like a train hitting an unsuspecting pedestrian. Choji's charging mass lifted the demon off its feat and sent in hurtling through the air, smashing through chairs and tables as it slammed back into the ground.

Dazed, but far from defeated, the Kyubi leaped to its feet. It ran towards Choji and Shikamaru, eager to take revenge for the surprise attack. It jumped; claws and fangs extended, but before it could reach them, it suddenly froze. Suspended in the air, its legs flailing wildly to find purchase on the ground, it looked madly about for the unforeseen force antagonizing it.

"This is for hurting Sasuke," Ino declared, stepping into view. Her eyes were closed, her mind projecting a sort of telekinesis that stemmed from her clan's infamous psychic abilities. She flicked her wrist, a mere physical gesture that served as a conduit for her thoughts, and sent the Kyubi hurtling backwards.

"Choji, get Sasuke and Hinata out of here!" Shikamaru yelled. "Ino, stay sharp!"

Choji nodded and, moving faster than anyone would have logically given him, quickly scooped up a protesting Sasuke, threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatos, and ran to pick up Hinata as well.

"Please, Shikamaru. Ino." Hinata pleaded as Choji tossed her over his other shoulder. "Don't hurt him."

Shikamaru frowned grimly. He and Ino took up battle stances beside each other, both prepared for the Kyubi to emerge from the debris that had collapsed on it. Both of them knew they need not worry about hurting Naruto. Both ninjas knew they didn't stand a chance –they could wail on Naruto with everything they had, and while possessed by the Kyubi, he would just smile and ask for seconds.

"Get ready." Shikamaru warned. "We just have to keep him down until help arrives."

Ino nodded gravely but didn't say anything. They both knew how slim the chances of that were. The only reason why they had managed to knock the Kyubi down once was because they had gotten the jump on him. The two would not get that lucky twice.

A demented howl of insane fury erupted in the café, a hideous noise that sent chills down Shikamaru's spine and shockwaves through the building. The window's cracked, plates shattered, glasses exploded under the onslaught of ominous noise. It was an animalistic sound, lacking of anything remotely humane, a cry of bloodlust so intense that Shikamaru had to resist the urge to run and flee. He checked to make sure Ino had done the same, and sure enough, the blonde-haired ninja was rooted firmly, teeth clenched and ready for battle.

He was proud of his team mate. It would certainly suck if they were to die now.

The Kyubi burst forth from the debris, bleeding hideously from the many cuts adorning its human host's face. Naruto's clothes were torn and tattered, but where bare flesh should have been, were now patches of fiery red fur. His face too had changed. It was more angular, his jaw more canine and eyes nothing but slits of radiating hatred. And most importantly, where only one tail had once been, were now two.

"_Do you think you Genin can defeat me?" _shrieked the Kyubi. "_Do you actually think you can hurt me?"_

"They can't," a voice said from behind Shikamaru and Ino. A tall, broadly built man with white hair had entered through the front door, or whatever remained of it anyway, the wooden clogs he wore clomping noisily. Shikamaru wasn't sure if he should be relieved or dismayed that _this _was the reinforcements he had requested. On one hand, he _was _one of the legendary Jounin, but on the other, he also _was _a complete idiot.

Jiraiya, the Perverted Hermit, walked past the two academy students and stopped, shielding them with his considerable girth. "But I can."

"_You!" _The Kyubi howled.

"Me." Jiraiya returned with a cocky smile. "I recommend you return control of that body back to my student before I have to force you to do so. And I don't think you want me to do that."

The demon fox sniggered. _"It's because of you that I've been imprisoned for so long. If not for you, I would have broken free years ago! I'm going to take pleasure in killing you."_

The white-haired instructor shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way. But you know you don't stand half a chance with only two tails." He scratched his chin and thought for a few seconds. "I'd say you need at least four."

"_Let's find out."_

"Yes. Let's. Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru clasped his hands together and with an uttered command, unleashed his Shadow Bind technique. His shadow shot forth, and though the Kyubi tried to dodge it, there was no where to run from the hundreds of tendrils of darkness that exploded from Shikamaru's shadow. They ran up the walls, across the ceiling, flooded the ground; they twisted and manipulated themselves until they covered the entire café, leaving no place to escape to.

Finally, one tagged the demon. It snaked around its claw like foot and tripped the Kyubi. It gnashed its teeth furiously and slashed at the shadow, ripping it in half, but before it could fully free itself from the snare, Ino hit him with a full blast of her telekinesis. As much as it struggled, the paralyzing bond Ino had him under was impossible to breach, even more so than anything Shikamaru could conjure.

Jiraiya stepped forward and held up his hand. He muttered something, an incantation that Shikamaru nor Ino had ever heard, and suddenly his palm began to burn. Smoke wafted from his flesh, carrying with it the acrid stench of burning flesh, but Jiraiya hardly seemed to notice.

"_Damn you!" _The Kyubi screamed.

For a moment, they glared at one another, the malice and hatred for one another a physical bridge that filled the void between the two.

"Go to hell," Jiraiya spat contemptuously. And with that, he rammed his palm into Naruto's stomach.

The Kyubi threw back its head and cried out in agony. It kicked wildly in a vain attempt to free itself of its bonds, but Ino held him firmly, utilizing all her powers to keep the wild demon from escaping. Jiraiya gritted his teeth and pressed harder, plunging his palm further and further into Naruto's stomach. The screams of pain, the sound of flesh burning, the shrill crescendo of defiance and determination –all accumulated in a deafening convulsion of misshapen chaos.

"_Damn you all!" _The Kyubi yelled.

And then it was over.

Naruto groaned weakly and collapsed on the floor. The demon was gone. His eyes were normal, the fur gone; even his whiskers had returned to the trademark lines on his face. However, he still bore the injuries that the Kyubi had sustained on his behalf. He was covered in cuts and bruises, and save for a few scraps of clothing that had survived the battle, he was completely naked. Ino diverted her eyes while Jiraiya draped his cloak over the unconscious boy.

"Is the Kyubi gone?" Shikamaru asked.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Gone? No. Contained? Yes." He cursed softly and looked at his hand. Or what was left of it anyway. Most of his flesh had burned off, leaving only scraps of burnt skin and muscle covering the skeletal structure of his hand.

"Uh…wow." Ino remarked awkwardly. "Think we should call a medic?"

"Back up is already on the way." The Perverted Hermit replied. He looked at the two ninjas meaningfully. "No matter what, say nothing about what happened here. No one is to know about the Kyubi. Is that understood?"

Ino nodded, but Shikamaru asked, "What about everyone else?" He gestured to the patrons who had not moved during the entire mess. One was still holding a bagel in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

"They're under an intense hypnosis which should wear off soon," he explained. "They won't remember a thing."

"And Naruto?" Shikamaru wondered, thinking of what Hinata had told him before Choji had carted her off to safety.

To that, Jiraiya had no answer.

He sighed and sat down at one of the tables. The café was a mess. The walls were cragged and full of cracks, the windows shattered, and the furniture…well, it would be difficult to find one that had escaped intact.

And that was just property damage. God knew how many civilian injuries had been sustained from this calamity, and on top of that, there was the matter of Itachi. Oh, and the Kyubi. Couldn't forget about an impossibly strong demon possessing a teenage boy, now could you?

The Hokage would not be happy.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Damn that took a long time to write! Why? Gears of War! I'm so addicted to that game it's almost impossible to tear myself away so I can go to work or do homework. And coupling that is my addiction to Final Fantasy XI. God! I'm going insane! So yeah, kids, don't play Gears or FFXI, and don't do crack! 

In other news…well…there is no other news. Except Naruto is making me a sad panda. The manga is doing awesome with the crazy plot twist, but the filler is making me wish I smoked and drank more. Just for the pain mind you.

Naruto and Sasuke in jail. Wow. That's a setup for some of the most homoerotic shounen-ai, yaoi, fanfiction ever. And no I'm not kidding. Better check it out in **Chapter Twenty-Nine: Mad World.**


	29. Chapter 29 CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Merry Christmas!  
Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

_**Author's Notes:**_  
Wrote this short as a Christmas special. Completely unsure where it falls in terms of A Ninja's Guide's timeline, but safe to say somewhere far down the road. Maybe. It's been a while since I've had anything uploaded, and with chapter twenty-nine still being worked on (three separate drafts alone! Yikes!) I thought I'd put something together to help bring in some festive cheer, Naruto-style. Enjoy!

Christmas Special

It was snowing. Small flakes of snow descended from the clear heavens, a billion speckles of white dancing through the air. It was a beautiful sight, so calming and tranquil that it inspired a soft sight from the young woman looking out unto it through the frosted glass of her bed room window. She was older; no longer was she the young girl who would run out and play in the snow, properly dressed or not, but she was not yet old enough where the urge had been fully suppressed. Wistfully, she prayed that she would never grow that old, to an age where her youthful impulses had been completely extinguished.

She touched the window pane, reveling in the momentary chill that rushed through her arm. But whatever pleasure the cold elicited was eclipsed by the blissful warmth that spread through her entire body when another hand found hers. She stared at it for a second, at the rough, masculine hand that enveloped hers, and smiling, looked over her shoulder.

"Hey, handsome," she said, brushing his cheek with her other hand.

"Hey, beautiful." He replied.

He leaned forward until their faces touched, and for a moment they stood there in silence, snuggling against one another, lost in the warmth of each other's presence. She moaned softly, and reached out until her hands found the bottom of his chin.

She giggled softly and pulled away, breaking the connection, but only temporarily. She rubbed his face and chided, "You need to shave. You're whiskers are like a tiger."

He laughed as his hands found their way around her hips. He pulled her close to him and rested his chin against her shoulder. "I'm only a tiger," he whispered in that deep, sexy voice he knew she loved. His eyes roamed over her lithe form, taking rapt notice of how her tight nightdress clung suggestively to her every supple curve. "When you want me to be."

She sighed, a shiver going down her spine as the warmth of his breath caressed the side of her neck. "That would be all the time."

"Like now?" he asked.

She didn't miss the hopefulness in his voice, and smiled. Again, she pulled away from him, pushing him playfully back. "We just woke up. And the kids will be up soon."

He shrugged his shoulders. "So what? I'll be quiet."

She blushed. He might be quiet. But it was impossible for her to be.

"Later." She said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Promise, promise?"

She laughed. "Promise, promise."

"Promise, promise, promise?" he asked.

"Oh cut it out," she said giggling. "Keep that up and you won't be getting anything."

He smiled broadly and did not persist. There were some things you never messed with when it came to girls. This was definitely one of them. Instead, he stared at her longingly, drinking in her enrapturing beauty and simultaneously wondering how lucky he was to have married her. She really was beautiful; the most gorgeous creature in the world, but her beauty was not limited to her physical appearance. Everything about her was so perfect. Her amicable personality, her warmth, her ability to love even a scrub like himself…

He was so blessed to have found someone like her.

His arms encircled her waist, and she did not resist regardless of her prior threats. Contrary, she sighed in pleasure as she felt his masculine arms wrap themselves around her. When it came to him she was all talk. She could threaten and warn all she wanted, but in the end, he could do anything he wanted to her and she would only beg for more.

"Hey," he said. "I think I'm in love with you."

"Oh really?" she replied with a chuckle. "And how long did it take you to realize that?"

"I'm male. We're naturally slow. Forgive me."

"I suppose I can forgive you. This time at least."

"How can I ever repay your mercy?" he wondered. She loved that boyish lilt in his voice. It was impossible to ever take him seriously when he used it, which was good since he never used it when he wanted to be taken seriously anyhow.

"I can think of a few ways. All of which require a bed."

"A bed?" He wondered. Next to them was his work desk, a slab of heavy wood that was adorned with an ornate, red cloth that her mother had made them for their anniversary. Their bed was a few feet away from that –way too far away. "I'm pretty good at improvising."

"I know you are, but didn't I say not until later?"

He grinned roguishly. "Can't blame me for trying."

Yes she could. He knew what the grin of his could do. It melted her heart, made her legs weak and made her head swoon. She couldn't think straight when on the receiving end of that grin. It completely dominated her, as if the simple facial gesture was enough to manipulate her will to his control. She loved it and hated it. Loved it for the way it made her feel; hated it for what it did to her.

"Damn you," she groaned. "You play dirty, you know that?"

"I play to win."

Before she could protest, he pounced with all the mannerism of a tiger lunging in on its prey. He grabbed her in his arms and gently placed her on the table, knocking papers and pencils off on the ground with reckless abandon and then peppering her with kisses as he clambered onto the table after her. The table was supposed to withstand quite a bit of weight; they would certainly be putting it to the test this morning.

"Hey, not now. The kids, the kids…" she hissed, but her words fell on deaf ears and after a few more of his light kisses on her neck, she found she didn't really want to listen to them either. She moaned in ecstasy as his hands explored her body, unleashing pleasure in parts of her that she did not know existed.

"What's that now?" he asked, taking a break from his sensual assault.

She looked up at him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. She pulled him down and kissed him viciously on the lips, holding him there until she thought one of them might pass out. After releasing him, panting for air, she shook her head and said, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

He kissed her again, but this time he was in control. Their lips locked, his hands roamed to her legs. He heard her shudder and involuntarily gasp as he pulled up the hem of her nightgown, further and further until the fabric was wrapped around her waist.

"You're so bad," she moaned.

"Want me to stop?" he asked.

"Never."

He grinned. "I didn't think so."

He kissed her again, hard and rough like the countless kisses they had shared behind her house as teenagers. They weren't as good as the long, leisurely kisses they could share now, but it had a nostalgic value she found exhilarating all the same. They reminded her of the days when she had to sneak out in the middle of the night to be with him, the days when her father would have killed him on sight if he caught them together.

His hands continued to move, gently stroking her thighs, up to her pelvis, and then…she thought her mind would explode as his fingers played havoc with the thin elastic of her panties…and then…

"Mommy? Daddy?"

The sudden voice, a child's voice, made him leap back with a start. He tripped, his feet running into one another, and he fell on the ground with a loud curse. She also clambered off the table, hastening to smooth out her nightdress in a vain attempt to disguise what they had been doing. But there was no hiding the bright flush that covered her face, nor how breathless she had suddenly become.

"What do you want, dear?" she asked as she helped her husband rise to his feet. He was rubbing his head. A small bump had formed from where his head had hit the ground. Some ice and a loving kiss and he would be all better.

Framed in the doorway was a little boy, and beside him, holding his hand, was an even younger girl. They stood there, their eyes wide in shock. They were not old enough to understand the specifics of what they had just witnessed, but they were smart enough to know they had stumbled on something they shouldn't have. There was confusion for a moment as they decided what to do. The little girl looked up at her brother for guidance. To her, he was the ultimate authority on making choices for them. Except for mommy and daddy of course.

The little boy stepped hesitantly into his parent's bedroom. "We were wondering if we could open our presents." The little girl nodded in agreement.

"Uh…" Her husband began, searching for a solution that would resolve their rather embarrassing predicament. They had told their children they would not open presents until later that day, but under the circumstances, it probably was better to get their minds occupied with something else quickly. He nodded. "Sure. Go downstairs and wait for us."

"You're going to come soon, right?" the little girl asked. The mother couldn't help but smile. Was there something accusing in her voice, a shrewd teasing voice that seemed inappropriate in an innocent child so young?

"We'll be done in a moment, honey." She said.

That was good enough for them. Mommy and daddy never lied. The little boy nodded and dragging his sister in tow, disappeared from the bedroom, leaving the two adults alone once again.

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, waiting for some stern rebuke from his wife. She had been right of course. She was always right about stuff like this. She walked towards him, eyes narrowed in a deadly glare that even he was smart enough to fear, but instead of yelling at him like he thought she would; she kissed him.

"What was that for?" he wondered.

"For being so awesome," she replied with a shy sort of smile.

"Oh."

They held hands, and both were amazed by how such a simple gesture could communicate so much love. The warmth they shared, the love they shared, the eternal bond they shared. Together, they looked out the window at the falling snow. It really was beautiful.

"Merry Christmas, Naruto." She said.

"Merry Christmas, Hinata." He replied.

* * *

**Author's Notes AGAIN:**  
Really quick Christmas one-shot that I wanted to try out. Lots more romance than I'm used to, and to be honest, I have a lot of trouble writing it so forgive me if it comes off as being awkward or cheesy. And again, the one-shot isn't necessarily canonical. Hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas! Be sure to review! That would be a terrific Chrismas gift right there! 


	30. Chapter 30

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Naruto isn't mine, but the story is. Hm. Yeah, still not quite sure how that one makes sense.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty: Rock Bottom**

Awakening from unconsciousness was always a bitch. The transition between darkness and light was an instantaneous process without the comforting buffer of grogginess that accompanied sleep. One moment you were suspended in darkness, and then the next, the brutal assault of reality was forced on your conscientiousness; your fragile mind raped by the onslaught of sensory information and sudden revelations. Realizations that failed to encode before the shroud of unconsciousness overtook you –those were always followed by a deluge of feelings. None of which were particularly pleasant.

Uzumaki Naruto groaned weakly and slowly opened his eyes. The world was still fuzzy, distorted and out of focus, but unfortunately for him his nerves were more than alert. Pain wracked every inch of his body, a testament to the beating he had barely survived. Soreness in his muscles, the dull ache radiating from the countless cuts and bruises that marred his flesh, the ringing in his head –they hurt like hell, but Naruto supposed he was lucky he escaped with just that. By all rights, he should be dead already, either at the hands of an ANBU death team or by the Kyubi's own self destructive nature.

He cringed with every shallow breath, stoically enduring the pain that breathing inflicted as the haze surrounding his vision dissipated. The bleak looking stone that loomed overhead accommodated the cold, abrasive touch against his flesh, and confirmed Naruto's greatest fear. He supposed on some unconscious level he had been expecting it all along, that this would be the inevitable consequence of his decisions, but there was still a sense of profound gloom and disappointment that his instincts were correct.

Naruto was in jail.

The thought made him chuckle although there was nothing at all humorous about his predicament. He hadn't really expected to see the inside of a prison cell at _least _until he had graduated.

A look around his cell however quickly sobered the young ninja. It did not look like a jail cell. There were no iron bars or any of the other of the usual furnishings of a traditional prison. It was a room, a blank, stone room devoid of any accessories aside from a single, windowless, metal door that contrasted with the rock walls surrounding it.

Slowly, ignoring the protesting screams from his muscles, he rose unsteadily to his feet and stumbled to the door. He placed his hands on it, felt the deathly chill emanating from the slab of iron, and pressed against it. Of course it didn't budge. He hadn't really thought it would, but it was a sort of confirmation he needed to begin to appreciate just how much trouble he really was in.

This was not just an ordinary Konoha city jail, the kind of jails used to house village deviants, drunks, or low-level ninja offenders. This was one of those max security prisons, the ones that played host to the most dangerous criminals in the entire country. Serial killers, super powered humans, S-ranked ninja outlaws -Naruto now shared a home with them, guarded by some of the most talented ANBU operatives in Konoha's military. It was almost a little flattering to think Naruto's escapade warranted such drastic repercussions, but then again, unleashing one of the most feared demons in existence was a pretty serious crime.

He had no regrets. Naruto had done what was necessary, and while things had not worked out exactly like he had planned, conclusively the ends justified the means. He had protected those he cared about from Itachi, and that was all that mattered to him.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. "Let me speak to the Hokage!"

He could explain all this to Tsunade. She would understand and help settle out this entire fiasco.

But when no one responded, Naruto frowned. "Hey!" he shouted again. "I need to talk to someone!"

"Shut up, moron."

Surprised to hear another voice in the confines of his cell, Naruto turned around. He thought he had been alone, but apparently that was not the case. Uchiha Sasuke was lounging against the wall at the other end of the cell, his face half hidden in the shadows. He stepped towards Naruto, hands balled into fists at his side and a dark scowl marring his lips. Naruto groaned. He could feel the anger emanating from the other boy, the tangible aura of rage radiating throughout the cell. This wasn't going to go well.

Sure enough, when Sasuke came within striking distance of Naruto, he threw a punch at the blonde haired ninja. Naruto was ready for it though and easily dodged it. Everything about Sasuke's punch was wrong; it was the very antithesis of what the Instructors at the academy had been teaching them for years. There was so much emotion behind that attack, anger, confusion, rage –a cyclone of feeling propelling Sasuke's fist. It made it pathetically easy for Naruto to read and step around it.

"What's the matter with you?" Naruto shouted. He pushed Sasuke away from him, but all that earned him was a moment's respite. The next second Sasuke lunged at him again. He threw punch after punch, each one less focused than the one before, and Naruto had no trouble avoiding them.

Naruto ducked as a wild haymaker flew over his head. Initially shocked, annoyance was quickly beginning to form in the young ninja. Judging by Sasuke's fighting, he wasn't even serious about trying to hurt him. It was like Sasuke was attacking him just to vent out some hidden frustration or angst, the equivalent of a grown ninja's tempter tantrum. He sidestepped another misaimed punch and allowed Sasuke to stumble across the cell. Enough was enough. He was not going to wait around for one of Sasuke's punches to get lucky and actually connect.

With an enraged growl Sasuke threw one last punch at Naruto. The blonde haired ninja easily caught it with his palm, and then retaliated swiftly and precisely. One uppercut that connected underneath Sasuke's jaw was enough to end the little skirmish, enough to send the young Uchiha flying backwards through the air.

Sasuke groaned but didn't stand up as he rubbed his bruised jaw. Naruto walked over and looked down at him. "Done yet?" Naruto asked.

Naruto expected Sasuke to get mad, to say something rude or angry. What he did not expect was for Sasuke to start crying. Tears began to stream down the other boy's face, and as much as he tried to hide them, there was no denying the soft sobbing that echoed throughout the cell.

Whatever annoyance Naruto had for Sasuke gave way to the pity he felt for him. It was awkward standing there. He always thought Sasuke was the embodiment of the ninja code, a code that specified that tears were below a true ninja. Never in grief, never in rage –tears meant emotion, and emotion was what ended up getting ninjas killed. It was almost embarrassing listening to Sasuke's tears, as if he was intruding on something private and personal, and yet he understood why Sasuke was crying.

"Why?" Sasuke demanded between deep sobs. "Why did Itachi choose you? Why not me?"

Naruto frowned. "Because there's a demon inside of me?" he said in mock wonderment. "Just a guess though."

Sasuke's tears abated as he slowly rose to his feet. "Yes. That demon gives you power. Enough power to defeat him. Enough power for him to recognize me. Maybe then I wouldn't be so useless. Maybe then I could avenge my clan."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears. Sasuke was actually saying he wanted a demon inside of him, a menace like the Kyubi residing inside his body? For what? Just so he could get revenge on his brother? "You're being stupid, Sasuke. Just shut up."

"No, you shut up!" Sasuke snarled. "You don't know what it's like! I need to kill Itachi! He murdered my family!"

Sasuke suddenly threw himself at Naruto, catching the blonde haired ninja by surprise. The two ninjas collided and fell on the ground, rolling across the rough cobblestone amidst curses and grunts of exertion as both struggled to gain the upper hand. Naruto was faster, but Sasuke was stronger and more skilled at grappling, and it didn't take long for Sasuke to pin Naruto on the ground underneath him.

"He killed my family!" Sasuke screamed. "Tell me, Naruto! Tell me what makes you so powerful!" He grabbed Naruto by the front of the prison rags they were garbed in and pulled him so their foreheads touched. "Give me the tools so I can avenge my clan!"

Naruto grunted as he tried to push Sasuke off of him, but to no avail. Sighing in resignation, he flopped back on the ground. "Do you really think I want the Kyubi inside of me?" He asked. "_He's _the reason why we're in a dark, smelly, prison cell, you idiot."

"Just shut up, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted. "Just shut up! You can't understand what I feel!"

But he did. Naruto understood more than Sasuke could imagine. They were both orphans, both forced to grow up without their parent's love, but while Naruto had never had a choice in the matter, Sasuke lived his life in denial. He should have a family, should have someone to comfort and love him, but Itachi had destroyed his happiness. Naruto had learned to cope and move on with his life; Sasuke never had. He was content to let hate and revenge fill the void where his parent's love should be.

And now Sasuke's fragile hold on reality was rapidly crumbling away. He lived to kill Itachi, and now he was beginning to realize that despite a lifetime of training, he was still too weak. His dreams were becoming delusions, his aspirations turning into little more than irrational ambitions.

"Sasuke," Naruto asked. "Do you really think killing Itachi will change anything?"

Sasuke looked uncertain. The cold, emotionless mask of indifference had shattered, revealing the insecure youth that hid behind it. He looked about ready to hit Naruto, his fists clenched tightly at his side, but instead, with a dismal cry of despair, he started crying again.

Gently, Naruto pushed Sasuke off of him. He sighed, unsure of what to say if there was anything to say that might console Sasuke. Sasuke felt useless because he was too weak to avenge his parents, and knowing that Naruto, someone he had always loathed for being weak and useless, was in fact capable of the very thing Sasuke could not do was a traumatic blow to his ego. Perhaps one he would never recover from.

He put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Instantly, Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and wept loudly. Naruto blinked, feeling distinctly awkward as his rival held on to him firmly, but he did not try to pry Sasuke loose. Maybe Sasuke needed this, the physical contact he had been deprived of so long. He needed to feel security, to feel love, to feel friendship. To feel anything but the fury and hate that had defined his entire life.

"I want to hate you so much, Naruto." Sasuke whispered. "I want to despise you, but I can't. Not anymore."

Naruto actually smiled. "I've never hated you, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up at him, tears glistening in his onyx eyes, but then turned away as if he could no longer stand to look at Naruto's face. Without another word to Naruto, he walked back to his side of the cell and curled up into a ball. Naruto did similarly, returning to his spot against the prison wall and sitting down.

A smile of contentment crossed Naruto's lips. He understood. There was no need for Sasuke to say anything. That look communicated a message that words could not.

It said _Thank you.  
_

* * *

When Naruto awoke for the second time, Sasuke was gone. The raven-haired boy was nowhere to be seen; the only testament to his presence the night before was dried spots of water on the cold, hard floor, evidence of the tears that had been shed. He felt awkward looking at the spot on the floor, almost as if he were witness to the other boy's shame and grief all over again. He had never seen Sasuke cry before. Naruto did not suppose anyone had. He felt like he had been privy to something extremely sensitive, and it puzzled him as to why Sasuke had voluntarily shared it with him.

He did not long to dwell on this mystery; however, for a second later the metal door to his tiny prison slid open. Two men stepped in. One was recognizable as an ANBU guardsman by the white body armor he wore and the misleadingly cute tiger mask that covered his face. The other man Naruto didn't recognize right away. He was an older man, tall, with long, shoulder length black hair that contrasted with the white robes he wore. But what really struck Naruto were his eyes. White, pale, tinged with a pearl hue –he had only seen two other people with eyes like him, both of which were Hyugas.

And that meant nothing good for Naruto. He did not know much about Neji's and Hinata's family, but he knew enough to know that the man standing before him was most likely Hyuga Hiashi, uncle to Neji, and more importantly, Hinata's father. And being trapped in a small enclosed space with the pissed off, extremely lethal, father of the girl he had almost accidentally killed was the _last _place Naruto wanted to be.

"Leave us." Hiashi said. The guardsman obeyed immediately without question, bowing deeply in respect as he retreated out of the cell.

"Do you know who I am, boy?" Hiashi asked. His expression remained stern and indicative of nothing, and his eyes never paused to blink. Someone might as well have chiseled his face out of stone for all the traces of life it had in it.

Naruto nodded, but couldn't say anything. His throat constricted into a suffocating noose, and his mouth became suddenly very dry. Looming before him was Lord Hiashi Hyuga. Head of the Hyuga clan. Member on the Ninja Council. Father of Hinata. Specter of Naruto's doom.

For what seemed to last an eternity Naruto squirmed under Hiashi's cold gaze, desperately trying to think of some explanation that might prevent Hinata's father from smiting him in retribution. None was forthcoming. Naruto had, after all, almost murdered his daughter. It was like trying to tell a father that you impregnated his daughter. There really was no right or easy way of going about explaining things.

"Look, sir," Naruto began, very aware of the beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. "I never meant to hurt your daughter, I swear. Hinata is my friend. I was just trying to protect her and-"

Hiashi cut short Naruto's apology by punching Naruto square in the nose. It didn't make for a very good ninja technique. It lacked the finesse and style of melee combat that the Hyuga clan was notorious for. Instead, it was full of emotion. Raw, naked fury backed the momentum of Hiashi's powerful punch, and Naruto felt every bit of it. His nose snapped as bone and cartilage ripped, and blood exploded down Naruto's front.

Dazed, Naruto fell backwards onto the floor, but Hiashi grabbed him roughly by the throat and pulled him closer. Face to face, Naruto could not recall a time those clear, pearly eyes looked more menacing. Normally, on Hinata, he thought they looked tranquil and pretty, but on Hiashi, they revealed nothing but the malice boiling inside him. Naruto closed his eyes, ready to die.

Hiashi was one of the highest ranking members in the village; no one would blame him if he killed Naruto. In fact, given his current status with the villagers, Naruto bet they would encourage Hiashi on.

But the fatal blow never came.

"Listen to me closely, boy," Hiashi hissed in Naruto's ear. "If you ever so much as look at my daughter again, I swear I will kill you. Do I make myself clear?"

A thousand thoughts bombarded his mind, each less coherent and rational than the think. He entertained the thought of spitting in Hiashi's face and telling that nothing would ever stop him from seeing Hinata again. He thought of laughing and proclaiming that no one told him, Uzumaki Naruto, what to do. But then, tailgating the torrent of delusional ideas, came reality in all its unwelcome splendor.

"You…you…monster," Hiashi spat. "Understand this. Hinata never wants to _see_ you again. She wants _nothing_ to do with a disgusting demon like you. And I, as her father, will do everything in my power to facilitate her wishes. You are to _never _speak with my daughter again. Do we understand one another?"

No. That couldn't be true. Hinata was his friend…right? Or did she really despise him for what he was? Just like everyone had done all those years ago. A small tear formed in the corner of his eye and slid down the side of his face. It was too much to hope that her father was lying and that Hinata was actually kind enough to forgive him, not only for his actions, but for being who he was.

She had done nothing to help him as he was carried off to prison, said nothing in his defense. She was probably relieved to see Shikamaru, Ino, and Instructor Jiraiya arrive to put him down like the wild beast he was.

Hinata hated him. And he didn't blame her.

By allowing the Kyubi to take over, by allowing his own delusions of heroism to get the better of him, he had put her safety in jeopardy. He had hurt someone he cared for and violated her trust. He had put her in harm's way, and was no longer worthy of being her friend.

Hinata hated him. And Naruto understood.

_I'm sorry, Hinata._

Naruto nodded. "I understand," he said softly.

"Good."

Hiashi slammed his fist once more into Naruto's face, breaking whatever remnants of Naruto's nose that remained and sending a shower of warm blood spraying across his face. Naruto could only groan, not even aware of the pain as Hiashi tossed his limp body carelessly on the ground. The cell door slammed shut, but even after the sound of Hiashi's footsteps faded away, Naruto remained where he was.

He was exactly where he had begun all those years ago. Forsaken by his friends, unloved; his existence feared and hated. Naruto was the Kyubi, and nothing could change that.

Everyone hated him. And Naruto was all alone.

_I'm so sorry, Hinata. _

Surrounded by darkness, isolated from everything he knew and loved, and lying in a puddle of his own blood, Naruto began to weep.

* * *

Hyuga Hinata gazed forlornly around her classroom. It was fifth period History, and the desks were packed to their fullest allotment with students cramming for their upcoming final examinations. Well, the room was _almost _full at least. There was one desk at the back of the classroom that was empty, a desk that was usually occupied by a certain rambunctious, loud mouthed friend of hers. It looked so alone, so sad and empty without a lively presence sitting behind it, and it pained Hinata whenever she turned around to look at it.

And she found that ended up doing that quite frequently. Like every thirty seconds. It was definitely strange for something to distract the normally studious Hinata, a girl renown for her religious study habits and perfect test scores, but then again, Uzumaki Naruto was not just _something _to her. No, he was most definitely something more, but what exactly the Hyuga heir still was not sure. A friend, a crush, the love of her life –all seemed possibilities for the blonde haired ninja, but at the moment, none were even probable with his fate in a limbo.

She had seen his limp, unconscious body dragged off by ANBU before she was whisked away to the hospital, but after that she had no clue as to his whereabouts. Jail seemed likely, but after being released from the infirmary, her search in the local jail's logs revealed that Naruto had never been there. Shikamaru and Ino knew nothing, so the next logical step was to ask her instructors, but Instructor Jiraiya was unavailable, the Hokage was always locked away in her office, and Hinata had the suspicion that even Instructor Kakashi was being purposively evasive with his claims of ignorance.

Her last resort was to go to her father. He was a high ranking member in the ninja council was privy to all sorts of confidential information, but even as desperate as she was for information regarding Naruto, Hinata was not quite ready to seek help from her father. She loathed the man, and showing any signs of weakness before him was the last thing she wanted.

She sighed wistfully and placed her head against her desk, allowing strands of her blue hair to drape in front of her eyes. If only life were less complicated. She always dreamed of meeting the right guy in high school, dating, falling in love and then marrying and having children. But then she met Naruto, a natural born trouble maker who had the misfortune to be born with a demon inside of him.

The Kyubi terrified her. She still awoke from nightmares about it, awakening soaked in icy cold sweat with the lingering feeling of its talons scraping across her flesh. But the Kyubi was apart of Naruto, a dormant force that she prayed Naruto would learn to master, and she would not let it come between her and the man she had fallen in love with. Years ago she had listened to everyone's advice and shunned a poor, friendless, orphan without pausing to look at who he truly was. She would not make that same mistake twice.

At least she was not alone in her misery. Hinata spotted Sakura sitting at her usual spot at the front of the classroom, but she too looked distracted. The pink-haired ninja continued to glance at the only _other _empty desk in the classroom. This one was at the front a few seats to the left of Sakura's. It belonged to Sasuke.

Ever since the incident at the café, no one had seen much of him either. Hinata knew he had been held for questioning regarding Itachi, but after he had been released from prison, Sasuke just dropped off the radar. He stopped showing up for classes, stopped hanging out around town. He didn't even answer the door to his estate anymore.

Sakura had been devastated when she heard about what happened. It was guilt, Hinata knew, irrational, completely unwarranted guilt, but guilt all the same. In some unconscious fashion Sakura blamed herself for what happened to Sasuke and Naruto; she was convinced that somehow her leaving the café early had triggered a chain of events that resulted in the present. Maybe if she had stayed none of this would have happened. The more likely conclusion of that scenario was, of course, absolutely nothing changing. One more casualty perhaps because Sakura would have undoubtedly been injured in the fight, and while that may have assuaged her conscience now, nothing else good would have come of it.

Hinata had tried to explain this to Sakura, but the pink haired ninja refused to listen to reason. In a last ditch effort to try to comfort her friend, Hinata had convinced Sakura to go visit Sasuke's house, hoping that if she spoke with Sasuke, it would make her feel better. So naturally their little visit did just the opposite.

The Uchiha estate was in complete disarray. The gates were bolted shut, but through the cracks in the wooden fence surrounding Sasuke's mansion they noticed how run down it looked. Snow was piled up, windows caked with dirt and frost, old mail jammed to the brim in the gate's post box –it looked as if Sasuke had not been home in days. Hinata had suggested half heartedly for Sakura to leave a message on the gate, but Sakura had merely shrugged and walked away. It was pointless. Sasuke wouldn't show up until he was ready.

Hinata lifted her head up and tried to focus on the lesson, but was unable to. She missed him. She wanted to see him again so badly. Every time someone spoke she thought it might be him. Every time the door opened she thought to see him barreling into the classroom. Every time the Instructor yelled at someone she thought it might be him…

…But it never was.

The bell rang; signaling the end of class, and everyone rose and began gathering their things and filing out of the classroom. Hinata frowned and swung her backpack over her shoulder and followed the flow of students leaving. She paused at the back of the classroom, however, and she found herself walking towards Naruto's desk. Her hands touched it, her fingers tracing over the rough wooden grain.

_Please be safe, Naruto.  
_

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

Unbelievable how long this chapter took to complete. Three separate drafts were made, and what I ended up was a huge compilation of both. But hey, chapter thirty is done. Which officially makes Ninja's Guide my longest story ever after "Trust and Betrayal" a properly titled Samurai X inspired Harry Potter story.

In other news, Gears of War is sick as hell, Final Fantasy XI is awesome, Eragon is officially the _worst _movie I have ever seen, and I'm addicted to Xbox Live.

Oh, I also need some help from you guys. I need to come up with a handful of original characters, but instead of me creating them, I would love to use yours instead. So, over the next couple of chapters, I'd love it if you guys created some original ninjas that I would be able to use in a Ninja's Guide. Full credit will be given to the author, of course. No restrictions, but the characters created should be around 16-19 years of age.

Going to try to get back to my bi-monthly update schedule and the best way to guarantee that is reviews! I usually shoot for fifteen good reviews per chapter before updating the next one, so if you enjoy reading a Ninja's Guide, please take a minute or so to let me know.


	31. Chapter 31

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Copyrighted! Lolz!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty One: Suicidal Tendencies **

The journey back to the rendezvous took longer than Itachi had planned. But then again, numerous things had not gone according to plan, the sum of which added even more complications to Itachi's already perilous mission. He had expended far more chakra in the last battle than he had anticipated. What was supposed to be a quick in and out job dissolved into a free-for-all, and Itachi counted himself lucky he had been able to pull himself out of the mess before things really got ugly. As powerful of a ninja as he was, Itachi did not relish the idea of going toe-to-toe with a hell spawned demon _and _one of Konoha's legendary Jounin at the same.

And then dodging multiple squads of ANBU had been no mean feat. Itachi had to give the Hokage credit. She had scrambled a reactionary team faster than Itachi would have thought considering the Konoha military's degrading status, and it had taken a considerable amount of skill, and perhaps even a little bit of luck, to keep the black ops ninjas at bay. He had been forced to abandon the linear course he had plotted in favor of a more circuitous path that had taken him and his pursuers through the thickest parts of Konoha's dense forests. Losing them had been his only real option –he had neither the time nor the chakra to dispatch a full team of ANBU –and though he had finally managed to evade them, it had taken Itachi far longer than he had planned.

He stopped for a moment to make sure no one was following him. Itachi was once an ANBU agent; he knew how they thought. Once Itachi was certain he had lost his tail, he proceeded to the agreed meeting spot, a small cavern at the base of a steep cliff. It was inconspicuous looking, and with the hundred of warding and illusionary seals that Itachi had installed the day before, invisible to virtually anyone but himself and his comrades.

"You're late," said a voice as Itachi entered the dark cavern.

The raven-haired ninja did not bother to respond as he sat down on a boulder. He kicked off his shoes, stretched out his toes and checked for blisters. Nothing was more uncomfortable than a blister. Imagine fighting with a sweltering, puss filled boil embedded on the bottom of your foot. Itachi suppressed an involuntary shiver.

"Did you get what I needed?" The voice asked again.

Itachi sighed and, once he was certain his feet were blister free, slid his shoes back on. He was normally incredibly patient, but for the likes of the man who insisted on speaking from the shadows, like a spy who thrived on the thrill of concealment and mystery, Itachi had absolutely none. He vaguely toyed with the idea of killing the man and dumping his body in the river. It would be quick and easy. But no. Too many questions would be asked, and killing someone was a messy business. Far too much blood and Itachi loathed the idea of getting blood on his robes.

Maybe later.

"You're thinking of killing me again," the voice said flatly.

Itachi nodded. There was no point in lying about it. He was pretty sure everyone in his organization knew of Itachi's no so subtle desire to kill the man who refused to talk to him face to face, and furthermore, it was also common knowledge that it was impossible for Itachi _not _to entertain the idea of murder at least three times a day. Period.

"We've had this discussion before. You know how _he _won't stand for my death, no matter how accidental it might look."

Itachi smiled thinly. "For now, my friend. For now. Your survival is contingent on how useful you turn out to be."

"Yes…" the voice said, a lot less arrogant this time. He knew Itachi's threat was but no means an empty one.

Itachi reached into his robes and extracted a folded piece of paper. He tossed it behind his back, not really caring if the man caught it or not. He probably did. "This is what you'll need for phase two of the plan. As requested by _him_, despite my protests,I will merely be supervising and leave all the planning and organization to you."

"You don't trust me. Do you, Itachi?"

Itachi shrugged. Of course he didn't. It was only their leader'sexpressed wishes that kept him from killing the bastard. Itachi had killed before for a whole lot less than questionable loyalty.

Itachi rose and walked towards the entrance of the cavern. He was worried if he spent anymore time in the man's presence he might accidentally slip and throw a kunai at him. And that would be a hard one to explain. Friendly fire was excusable on the battlefield occasionally, but Itachi didn't think anyone would believe if a knife magically materialized lodged in the man's eye. No one trusted anyone these days.

"Just do your job." Itachi commanded. "Get the boy. That's it. We've received word that Rock, Sound, and Fire country have agreed to our alliance. They're ready as soon as we give the word."

"Excellent." The voice said.

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't screw this up," Itachi said. He looked straight into the other man's eyes, his gaze cold and deadly. _"Orochimaru."  
_

* * *

  
They called in the sealing ceremony. Not that there was any indication of the prestige or honor that the word ceremony usually denoted. Instead, this particular ceremony consisted of Naruto, handcuffed and shirtless now, one very nervous looking ANBU guard, and Instructor Kakashi standing in the middle of Naruto's small, dark cell. No one had bothered to explain anything to him yet, which suited Naruto just fine. Aside from the periodic meal trays that were pushed underneath Naruto's cell door three times a day, this was the only interruption in Naruto's mundane prison life in almost a week now.

"You can leave, now." Kakashi said to the ANBU guardsman.

"But, Instructor Kakashi," the guard protested. "I was instructed to ensure your-"

Kakashi snorted in amusement. "Ensure _my _safety?" He looked the ANBU operative up and down and chortled. "Ichiro, I _taught _you. And if I remember correctly, I also _failed _you three times before you managed to pass my class. Now leave us."

Even with his tiger mask hiding his identity, Naruto could see the flush of embarrassment spread across the guard's face. The ANBU guard looked as if he was prepared to say something angry, but then must have thought better of it in fear of provoking Kakashi even further. Muttering something about 'reporting Kakashi to the Hokage' he turned and left the prison cell, leaving Naruto and Kakashi alone.

Kakashi touched his student lightly on the shoulder. "How are you doing, Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto grinned weakly and gestured to his nose with his shackled hands. It was healing, but the swelling and ugly discoloration was still glaringly evident. After that one terrible night following his ordeal with Hiashi, it was unbelievably comforting to know that there was someone who still cared about how he was doing.

"Sorry it took me so long to come visit you," Kakashi apologized, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "It amazes me how much red tape one must wade through to get in here, but alas, here I am."

Naruto frowned skeptically. "Sorry if I'm being rude, Instructor," he said, knowing full well that he was in fact being rude, "But I kind of doubt you're here _just _to find out how I'm doing."

Kakashi blinked, slightly taken aback by Naruto's terseness, but he let it slide with a good natured shrug. "True. The Hokage asked me to take care of some important business while I am here. But since this business concerns you, Naruto, it only makes sense for me to be visiting you, no?"

The blonde-haired Genin flushed red with shame and nodded, unable to look his teacher in the eye. There had been no anger to Kakashi's subtle rebuke, but his gentle words stung worst than if he had started yelling at him. Naruto had no right to be angry with Kakashi, in fact, he should be grateful that his instructor was one of the few ninjas who had not completely forsaken him yet.

"Now then," Kakashi said. "I'm here to help you out with your little problem. But first let me take care of these…"

He messed with Naruto's handcuffs, and a second later they clattered noisily on the floor.

Naruto rubbed his sore wrists and grinned at Kakashi's drastic understatement. He acted like Naruto's problem was something trivial like bad personal hygiene, and not an angry, powerful demon that threatened the existence of everyone in Konoha. Kakashi was actually attempting to make light of his dire predicament, a definite first when it came to handling a delicate subject like the Kyubi.

"In the past the Hokage has enforced a policy of secrecy," Kakashi explained. "I guess everyone hoped that if you never knew the Kyubi lived inside of you, it would just magically disappear. Wishful thinking, I know, and it failed to take something very important into consideration."

"What's that?" Naruto wondered.

"You." He replied simply. "No one thought you would be curious enough to figure out why you sometimes heard voices, or why you sometimes have powers that far exceed even the most experienced of Jounin. But," He winked at Naruto playfully. "I and your instructors found out quickly that was hardly the case."

Naruto furrowed his brow, confused. "So you knew something like this would happen?"

"Maybe not something necessarily like _this, _but we had counted on you would day losing control of the Kyubi." He looked at Naruto and winked. "You're kind of a magnet for trouble. It was bound to happen, regardless of how many seals Instructor Jiraiya put on you."

"Seals to imprison the Kyubi," Naruto muttered to himself as if finally solving a life long riddle. "So pretty much every time I wound up in the hospital, that Perverted Hermit comes by to strengthen it and make sure the Kyubi doesn't get out?"

Kakashi nodded, pleased with the boy's perceptiveness. "Seals don't last forever. Even the original one," He pointed at the spiraling, black tattoo that had suddenly appeared on Naruto's stomach. "will one day fade if appropriate precautions are not taken."

Naruto touched the symbol gingerly and could almost feel the chakra that pulsed throughout the magical seal. However, true to what Kakashi had just told him, the dark outline of the tattoo seemed like it had faded since the last time Naruto had seen it. It was no longer as vibrant as before, as if someone had taken a wash cloth to his skin and had been scrubbing away at it over the years.

"So what now?" he wondered. "Do we just get someone to strengthen the seal again?"

"We could, but you'd just break through it again."

"No, I wouldn't!" shouted Naruto, shaking his head vehemently. "I've learned my lesson, Instructor Kakashi."

The silver-haired instructor gave Naruto a pitying look and sadly shook his head. "At this point Naruto, it has very little to do with what _you _want. Every emotion of yours, whether it be rage, sadness, boredom –they can all be exploited by the Kyubi. When you decided to unleash the Kyubi, Naruto, you allowed him to gain access to a part of your soul. You opened a doorway that separated you and the demon, and it won't be so easy to close it again."

Naruto couldn't think of anything to say. When he had made the conscious decision to submit to the Kyubi's requests, to allow him to be manipulated by the demon's persuasive words and persistent claims that it 'only wanted to help,' Naruto was convinced he had done the right thing. Now, confronted with the brutal facts that Kakashi was laying out before him, he wasn't so sure anymore. He might have saved his friends, but by doing so, had he only made things even worst for everyone?

Kakashi lifted his hand out and muttered something. Immediately, a pyre of flickering purple flames engulfed his hand.

"In the past we've tried to conceal the truth from you." Naruto's teacher said, looking at the small fire that was now hovering innocently above his outstretched palm. "Now we're going to do what we should have done all along: we're going to help you control it."

Naruto looked up hopefully. "But how?"

"Well first of all –hey look!" Kakashi exclaimed suddenly, pointing at something behind Naruto.

Involuntarily, the blonde haired Genin looked in the direction Kakashi was pointing, and no sooner had he done that, Kakashi wrapped his fist around the purple flames and slammed it into Naruto's stomach. Naruto gagged and fell on the ground, wheezing for air. So surprised by the unexpected attack, he barely noticed the dull burning sensation emanating from his stomach.

"What'd you do that for?" demanded Naruto angrily after he regained his breath.

"Huh?" Kakashi asked as he helped Naruto back up. "Oh. I heard from someone that it hurts less if you're not ready for it. I figured I might as well test the theory out. I'm guessing it still hurt though, right?"

Naruto glared at his teacher. "No! I mean, why'd you punch me?"

"Oh! Well, believe it or not, that's step one on your process to controlling the Kyubi."

"So you're just going to keep punching me?" The blonde-haired Genin yelled incredulously.

Kakashi narrowed his one eye. "Don't be stupid. Those flames were part of a sealing technique that I just so happen to specialize in. They should help keep the Kyubi in check in case of most daily emotive outbursts, like say if you stub your toe."

Relief flooded over Naruto and helped him forget about the dull pain in his gut. Alone in a prison Naruto could keep his emotions under control, but he had been terrified of what would happen once he was released. What would happen if he were to get ticked off at something minor, and then suddenly become possessed by the Kyubi again? He wouldn't be lucky enough to always have someone like Instructor Jiraiya waiting around to leap in and save the day.

"You said it was part of your sealing technique," Naruto noticed. "What's the other part?"

"The other part is control. Keeping your emotions in check, denying yourself the abilities that you know the Kyubi is capable of, resisting the temptation to try to harness the demon's powers as your own. Whether or not you wish to contain the Kyubi inside you is a choice only you can make."

"No prob-"Naruto began, but a hard look from Kakashi caused the rest of that sentence to fade away. Apparently his problem was something that could be taken lightly; learning how to solve it, however, definitely was not. The younger ninja cleared his throat. "I'll work on it."

"_We'll _work on it," corrected Kakashi. "Over the next few weeks I'll come here and train with you on how master your emotions. Right now your emotions-"

"A few weeks!" Naruto exclaimed. A deep sorrow welled up into his throat, and he found himself fighting back tears. Big, hot tears of disappointment and dejection stung at his eyes, but he bravely wiped them away on his sleeve.

"B-but Instructor Kakashi, I can't be stuck in here for another few weeks! What about my final exams? What about the winter dance?"

Hatake Kakashi seldom was at a loss for words, but this was one of those rare moments where he found himself absolutely speechless. Underneath his mask his mouth contorted into a painful grimace, and he forced his eyes to disguise the sadness that washed over him. He pitied the boy. Honestly he did. No one should have to suffer as Naruto did, no one deserved to have the twilight of their youth so brutally stripped away as Naruto's was going to be, their innocence destroyed by the harsh realities of the grim world. He felt the urge to hug the boy reassuringly and tell him everything would be alright, but he couldn't because it would be a lie.

For Naruto this was just the beginning. Things would only get harder from here.

"Naruto," Kakashi said softly. "I wouldn't even worry about that."

* * *

"So how did Naruto take it?"

Tsunade and Kakashi were standing in the middle of the prison's massive control center, a giant room filled with computer terminals and the ANBU guardsmen manning them. All around them monitors flashed with information that relayed the status of each sector of the prison, reading off prisoner information, possible threats, live video surveillance feeds of prisoners in their cells etc. Of all the rooms in the sprawling underground security prison, the control center was the most important. Everything and anything that happened in the prison went through this room first.

Kakashi shrugged. "As well as you can expect from a boy who just had his hopes and ambitions crushed."

The Hokage crossed her arms across her chest. "That's exaggerating a bit."

"If I am, it's only a very little bit," Kakashi said. "Face it. We more or less just took away his immediate future."

Tsunade glared angrily at Kakashi, but refrained from sniping back. Either she concluded it was her job to be the mature one in this conversation or, more likely, she realized that Kakashi was right and it was pointless to argue further. She sighed and sat down at one of the unused terminals. "That's all up to Naruto."

"You could be a bit more sympathetic." Kakashi said, crossing his arms. "It's not like it was his choice to have a demon put inside him to begin with."

That last jab was the last straw for Tsunade and she rounded on the silver haired instructor angrily. "Well I guess we can blame your teacher for that one now can't we?" The Hokage snapped.

No sooner had the words left her mouth she immediately regretted ever saying them. She often forgot how close Kakashi and the fallen Hokage had been. After Kakashi's father committed suicide, it was the Yondaime that helped the shattered mess of a boy become the feared, Copy Cat assassin. She had been trying to hurt Kakashi with her thoughtless words, and the pain in the silver haired Jounin's only visible eye was evidence enough that she had succeeded.

Tsunade looked down, unable to meet Kakashi's gaze. Even as the village's Hokage, She had been completely out of line by disrespecting her fallen predecessor, but Kakashi, ever faithful and loyal, remained silent. Taking a deep breath, she raised her head and looked her subordinate in the eye. "I apologize, Instructor Kakashi. That was tactless of me."

The silver haired ninja cocked his head to the side. "Forgotten." He said simply.

There was a nagging feeling that Kakashi was not being entirely truthful with her, but Tsunade had more pressing things on her mind. "You realize there was a meeting earlier today with the council about Naruto. Some of them wanted to have him executed."

"For the good of the village of course," Kakashi remarked sarcastically.

He wasn't surprised. The Council members who were non-ninjas, or _villagers_ as most referred to them as, were deathly afraid of the Kyubi, even more so than their ninja counterpart. They had been outraged with the Yondaime when he sealed the Kyubi away instead of destroying it all those years again, and to them, killing Naruto now would bring to a close a dark chapter in Konoha history.

"And I suppose Hyuga Hiashi had something to say about that too."

The Hokage frowned darkly. "He was pretty vocal about supporting the motion to have Naruto killed, or at the very least, permanently incarcerated instead of rehabilitated."

Kakashi snorted bitterly. "He no longer has the Yondaime to hate so he takes it out on Naruto instead. How childish."

"He's a loyal ally and competent ninja," Tsunade corrected. "And I'm sure there's more to his opinion than that, but I admit, he is being rather…juvenile. It's no matter. I had the motion dismissed before it could gain too much momentum. Fortunately the title of Hokage still carries some meaning in this village."

She sighed deeply, sounding completely drained from the day's ordeals. "But enough of that. How did your first lesson with Naruto go?"

Kakashi nodded his head. "It's a beginning and he is being receptive, which is good."

He glanced at one of the monitors that ANBU had designated for Naruto's cell. The boy was fast asleep on the ground, exhausted both physically and mentally from Kakashi's rigorous training regime. "Just to be safe though I put him on the suicide watch list."

"You think he's suicidal?" Tsunade asked, concerned.

"I think he has a lot to cope with." Kakashi explained. "He's confused, scared, and doesn't have much to live for at the moment. Besides he's a teenager. Crazy kids are always thinking of cutting their wrist for some stupid reason or another."

The Hokage frowned, not at all convinced. "Kakashi, do I have a reason to worry about Naruto committing suicide?"

Kakashi didn't answer immediately and instead stared at Naruto's monitor. At first he thought the boy was sleeping, but when the camera zoomed in momentarily, he noticed the trickle of tears streaming down Naruto's face. The young Genin was still conscious, crying, scared and all alone, trapped in a nightmare he could not awaken from.

He looked at the Hokage sadly.

"Yes."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Let me first off start with expressing how grateful I am for all the feedback. Last chapter garnered twenty-seven reviews in a two week period, a record first for any of my stories. It's very encouraging to know that people are reading, and better yet, giving me insight on what they like or don't like about my writing. I loved the OC's you guys contributed as well. Unfortunately I won't be able to use all of them, but the ones I can I will definitely do my best to remain as faithful as I can to the creator's intent. For the characters I decide to use I'll be sure to contact you in the upcoming weeks! Thanks again to everyone who contributed –I appreciate it a lot!

Next chapter in all likelyhood will be pushed back slightly. Classes just started again, and between work, school, and my addiction to World of Warcraft, I don't have as much time to write as I used to. And that and the cursed filler are supposed to end soon! Yay! Check out the preview at Narutobuzz (dot) com (slash) Preview.

Naruto is locked up…but what is everyone else doing? Getting ready for finals, and more importantly, getting ready for the dance! Dates need to be arranged, dresses made, flowers picked out, because, after all, it has to be the best dance. Ever. But dark forces are moving outside of Konoha…forces that could very well turn the kid's of Konoha's dreams into their worst nightmare. All this and more in Chapter Thirty-Two: Guys and Gals.


	32. Chapter 32

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: I don't own Naruto. But I do own this story. Schwa!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty-Two: Guys and Gals**

The end of the school week was normally a cause of celebration for the students of Konoha High. That final bell signified the beginning of a blissful reprieve from the monotonous drudgery of their mandatory formal education, a time that any good student knew was not to be squandered foolishly. Trivialities such as studying, doing homework, or God forbid, even sleep, were set aside in exchange for more important activities like going to the movies, games of football in the local park, or just idling about in some of the popular hang out spots around the village. That was what normally happened at least. But this was finals week, that last stretch before the inevitable onslaught of rigorous exams from each of their instructors, and so when the Friday afternoon bell rang, none of the usual gusto was visible in the faces of the students leaving the school.

Instead of messing around all weekend long, most would spend the next forty-eight hours or so buried in their textbooks and reviewing notes, desperately trying to cram a semester's worth of material into two days.

Or at that was what most students were doing. But not Kiba. No, certainly not Kiba. The young, brown haired ninja whistled happily to himself as he calmly strolled out through the gates of Konoha High. He was an island of tranquility amidst the raging current of frantic students, their heavy backpacks bulging to their brims with thick textbooks, racing home to study. Kiba didn't even bother bringing a backpack to school anymore, and the few textbooks he did have were still sitting at the bottom of his locker somewhere collecting dust. Studying was the last thing on this Genin's mind. Two days of intense studying wouldn't compensate for a semester's worth of slacking and sleeping during class, so why bother?

"Hey, Kiba," Hinata called as she fell into step beside him.

Kiba glanced over at his friend and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Hinata. I'm surprised you're still here." That was an understatement. He was astounded Hinata was still at school. She was of one of those super nerds, the kind who did not need to study for finals but did anyway, and Kiba figured she would already be halfway back home by now instead of lagging behind to talk with him.

She laughed softly, but there was no real amusement to it; almost as if Hinata had done so just to humor Kiba. Hinata _never _did that. She was shy and reserved, not shallow and pretentious. The young dog trainer immediately picked up on that and grew concerned. He frowned and crossed his arms across his chest.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" He asked.

It was a stupid question. Everyoneknew what was bothering Hinata. People spoke about little else. _Where was Naruto? _

Kiba sighed. "I'm sure he's fine, Hinata. He's a tough kid and-" He looked at Hinata, and one glance at the distant, faraway look in her eyes was enough to convince him to give up trying to cheer her up. It was hopeless. Besides, Kiba wasn't even sure _he _believed the words that were coming out of his mouth.

She tried to smile. "I'll be fine, Kiba. Thanks."

Unconvinced, Kiba frowned. "Hey, why don't you come hang out with me and the guys tonight? Do something to take your mind off that bum."

Hinata laughed again, but this time Kiba was sure it was genuine. Good natured cynicism dripping from every word, she replied, "Sure. Go get drunk with you and your buddies. Sure. That sounds like a lot of fun. Don't you have better things to do? Like studying for finals?"

The young Inuzuka snorted. "I'm already done studying, _mother." _

"What a liar."

"Dork."

"Loser."

"Geek."

"Retard"

They exited through the gates of Konoha, trading childish quips and insults along the way, and began walking down the street leading away from school. It was chilly outside and traces of melting snow still lingered, caking the roads with icy slush that soaked through Kiba's boots. It was unpleasantly chilly. Fortunately the bitter, winter chill was deflected by the warm, fur coats both ninjas wore.

"So all set for the big dance?" Kiba suddenly asked. When Hinata didn't answer and instead looked gloomily at the ground, he cringed, immediately realizing it was probably the worst question he could have possibly asked. It was the first thing that had sprung to mind, which, Kiba supposed, was just more evidence that thinking before speaking might actually be a good idea. His mother might have been right about that one.

"Sorry," he muttered sheepishly.

Hinata shook her head. "No, you have every right to be excited, Kiba." She forced a weak smile. "There's no reason why I should spoil your enjoyment."

"You're not spoiling anything," Kiba assured her with a friendly grin.

She favored him with a soft smile, letting him know how much she appreciated his kindness. Kiba had been her friend since they were children, but even still, the young Inuzuka was as loyal of a friend as they came. Whenever Hinata was down, she could always count on him to try and cheer her up.

"Thanks, Kiba," Hinata said. "But I think I'll probably end up staying home."

Kiba nodded, frowning. His face was conflicted, a reflection of the internal debate ensuing in the privacy of his mind. His hands rummaged in his pockets, and he kicked idly at the snow. Finally, after an agonizing moment of silence, without daring to look Hinata in the eyes he muttered, "I could take you if you wanted."

"What?"

He cleared his throat, using the second of respite to summon the courage for another attempt." I could take you to the dance if you wanted."

The shocked, young Hyuga was at an utter loss of words, and she filled the awkward void by reverting to a childhood habit of hers she had always used when embarrassed. Tapping her index fingers together and refusing to look her childhood friend lest he see the brilliant shade of magenta her face had become, she forced herself to think. From her classes in Strategy and Tactics, she knew for any sort of problem solving, it was critical to first analyze the fact one at a time.

Fact one: Inuzuka Kiba was asking her out.

She stopped right there. There was no need to analyze any more facts; the facts in themselves _were _the problem.

Inuzuka Kiba was asking _her _out. Never before in all the years she had known him had Kiba ever expressed any interest in her. Not once. He had dated tons of other girls during middle school and high school, but Hinta had never thought for even a moment that Kiba would ever entertain any romantic inclination towards her. Not because she thought she was too ugly or boring for someone as wild as Kiba, but merely because the idea always struck her as ridiculous.

She looked at the gleaming hope in his eyes and felt her heart tear in two. She wanted to say yes so she would not disappoint him, but deep inside she knew she could never do that. Hinata loved Kiba. He was one of her closet friends, but the love she had for the shaggy wolf trainer was a platonic love, the kind of relationship a brother and sister shared. But nothing more.

"So how about it?" he asked hopefully. "I'll even cut my hair! I know how you say it's too shaggy and all…"

"Kiba…I…"

Kiba did not need to hear any more. The hesitation said it all. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, pretending like the stabbing pain in the center of his chest was not real. The stinging dejection was a figment of his imagination, the overwhelming disappointment entirely nonexistent. He opened his mouth to say something witty or clever, to make Hinata think he really didn't care and that he had only been half-sincere about asking her out. But he couldn't.

"It's _Naruto_, isn't it?" he asked.

Kiba surprised with himself at how vehemently he said Naruto's name, as if it was a curse, but then he realized that was exactly the way he had meant to say it. _Naruto._ Probably one of the least popular guys in all of Konoha High had somehow managed to get one over Kiba? It made absolutely no sense that Hinata should choose Naruto over him, and this infuriated Kiba beyond words.

"What makes him so much better than me?" he asked bitterly. "What does Naruto have that I don't?"

"It's not like-"

But Kiba was in no mood to listen. Exasperatedly, he ranted, "I've known you for eighteen years, Hinata, _eighteen years_! I've known you since we were babies," "How long have you known Naruto? Huh? A year? Two? You didn't even start talking to him until a month ago!"

"Kiba…"

"Tell me, Hinata, what makes that guy so special?" Kiba demanded desperately. "What can I do to make you feel for me what you do for him?"

Hinata's eyes narrowed. She had started off feeling bad for Kiba, but his hysterical rant was beginning to annoy her. What right did Kiba have to be jealous? And how dare he question her like this? "Kiba, not once have you _ever _expressed _any _interest in me."

"Neither has Naruto!" retorted Kiba. "He barely even knew you existed!"

"And you did?" Hinata shot back, her annoyance now giving way to anger. "As long as I've known you you've always treated me like one of the guys! Asking me out to go get drunk with you and your pals? Wow! That would have made me feel _really _special right there, Kiba."

Kiba frowned. He did not like where this conversation was going at all. For a while, he had been in control, so how was this being turned against him now?

Hinata glared at her friend. "Come on, Kiba. What's this really about? So many other girls in our high school and you randomly choose me? Why? Don't tell me that every other girl has turned you down."

"No." Kiba said, hurt by her scathing accusation. "You were the first girl I asked. I just figured since this was our last year…you know…better late than never."

"Better late than never, huh? Just another trophy to add to your collection?" Hinata snorted.

"What? No! It's nothing like-"

Not caring what else Kiba had to say, she got up in his face, and though she was a head shorter than her friend, he involuntarily cowered before her fearsome presence. Jabbing her finger in the middle of his chest, she snapped, "What makes Naruto so special? He actually cares! If you really want to go out with me, figure out how to do that first!"

And without another word to Kiba, Hinata turned and stormed away. She could hear him calling her to come back, telling her she couldn't be more wrong about him, but she ignored him. She hoped he would chase after her, to prove that the worst of her accusations about him were false, but he did not. This only added to the confusion and frustration boiling with her, and suppressing the urge to kick the wall, Hinata stalked away.

She kept walking, long after she ventured out of range of Kiba's voice, and kept walking until she got home.

There, Hinata unpacked her bags, went up stairs, and locked her bed room door. And then, only when she was sure she was alone, did she break down in tears.

With her anger subsiding, guilt set in. She found herself regretting saying those things about Kiba. Part of it may have been true, but he did not deserve much of what she had said. Kiba did care about her. He was her friend, always had been, and always would be. She knew that. So why had she thrown their friendship in his face just to spite him?

It was all too much for her. None of this was supposed to be happening. Naruto wasn't supposed to be missing. Her best friend wasn't supposed to be asking her out. She should be worrying about summoning the courage to ask Naruto to the dance, and then getting her dress tailored for the big night. She should be worrying about studying and final exams. Not any of this.

Sobbing, she looked forlornly at the ceiling.

Why couldn't life be simpler?

* * *

"You're doing _what?_" Sakura shrieked.

Ino flinched at the shrill sound of her friend's incredulous voice and hoped that the fragile diamond vases that adorned the shelf behind her would not shatter. She and Sakura were in Ino's parents flower shop, sorting through a variety of fresh, wild flowers the two friends had spent picking in the forest behind the store.

Half store and half botanical garden, the flower shop was a popular spot to meet these days for kids from Konoha High. Students were always coming through the doors making last minute orders for bouquets or corsages, and it was not uncommon for groups of kids to end up spending hours hanging out at the shop. Ino's parents had been less than thrilled by the turn of events, but Ino had convinced them the popularity was good for business, and in the end, they had agreed to permit them to stay as long as Ino was the one tending the store after school.

The blonde-haired psychic smiled devilishly. "I've decided to let you have Sasuke."

Sakura glared at her friend. "You're letting me _have _Sasuke?"

"That's right. I've decided chasing after Sasuke is not only boring, but a colossal waste of my time when I could be doing so many better things."

"Ha!" Sakura laughed in disbelief. "You've realized you don't stand a chance when Sasuke is so obviously interested in me. I mean, he did after all go on a date with me."

Ino shrugged her shoulders. Sakura had told her weeks ago about her epic date with Sasuke, and was outraged. Now, apparently she had evolved into a state that Sakura liked to classify as denial.

"Think what you will, Sakura my friend. I am merely moving onto greener pastures."

"What greener pastures?" questioned Sakura skeptically. "Just last month you would agree that Sasuke is as green as the grass gets."

Ino smiled and then sighed wearily. "I admit Sasuke is one of a kind, but it's time to face the facts. I need a date to the dance next week, and Sasuke is no where to be found."

Sakura smirked, basking in the warm glow of the victory she had just unearthed. "So you never really did like Sasuke that much? You were just after him because of his looks, right?"

"Of course. He was as sexy as they get, but he was a complete asshole." Ino replied as she picked out a flower and inspected it carefully. "And besides, he's off acting like some spoiled emo kid and I need a date to the dance. It's time to take second best."

Ino picked up a pair of pruning sheers from a nearby bench and carefully clipped the flower's stem. Perfect. The Yamanka family had an agreement with the Nara clan. In exchange for usage of the Nara clan's meticulously cared for forest, Ino's parents gave the Nara clan choice pick of a floral arrangement every month. It was a steep price considering how much the shop's flowers usually went for, but looking at the quality of flowers they reaped from the agreement; it was one Ino was glad they paid.

Ino replaced the flower and looked at Sakura. "I'm moving on, Sakura. As your friend, I would recommend the same. You're a nice pretty girl. You deserve more than a jerk like Sasuke anyway."

Sakura said nothing. Ino was wrong. There was more to Sasuke than a pretty face and a heart of ice. Beneath the ice, beneath the indifferent demeanor was a man who cared. Someone like Ino could not understand. Someone who did not understand the pain that Sasuke endured could not possibly comprehend why Sasuke was the way he was. They had abandoned him when Sasuke needed love the most. They had fled when their idol had fallen.

But Sakura would not. _She would never give up on Sasuke._ She would find him one way or the other, and when she did, she would bring him back.

"How do you know you're not waiting for me to give up and then sneak back to Sasuke?" Sakura asked slyly.

Ino shook her head. "Trust me, I'm so over Sasuke."

This time it was Sakura's turn to grin wickedly. "I think you're just beginning to realize you're not as beautiful as you thought. Not hot enough to win over any boy at Konoha High without using those hypnosis techniques of yours."

The sole heir of the Yamanaka family snorted and crossed her arms. "I can win any boy, any time."

"Oh really?" Sakura asked. "I bet you can't."

"I bet I can."

The cruel side of Sakura's personality cackled hideously. The trap had been set, and Ino's pride and arrogance had forced her right into it. Now to spring it, stand back, and watch as the chaos ensued.

"Fine." Sakura said. "If you're so confident then the next Konoha High guy that walks through the door you have to ask to the dance."

"What?" Ino protested loudly. "No way. Not a chance. _Anyone _could end up walking through those doors."

The pink-haired ninja smirked. "Fine. I knew you were all talk anyway."

Ino glowered at Sakura, suddenly realizing the trap Sakura had forced her into. There was no way in hell Ino would accept a challenge so brazenly stupid and potentially damning, but at the same time, she had her pride to protect. Back down now after she had made such bold statements about her personal powers of seduction would be nothing short of seceding victory to her rival. And there was no way Ino could allow that.

"Fine." Ino said at last through gritted teeth. "I'll do it."

"Fine." Sakura replied beaming triumphantly. "You'll do it."

"No teachers though."

Sakura waved her hands in concession. "Sure."

Annoyed that she had fallen for such an obvious trick, Ino glared menacingly at the front door of the shop, ready to murder the next person who walked through the door. Her heart leaped in her chest every time someone passed by the shop, but no one stopped to enter. Hideous thoughts of being forced to go out with the most unsavory boy at Konoha High haunted Ino's thoughts. She glanced at the large display window and wondered if she could jump through it before Sakura caught her.

"You made a promise, Ino." Sakura reminded her.

"Shut up." snarled Ino.

"Hey, look on the bright side. It could be someone cute."

"It could be someone ugly," shot back Ino.

"It could be someone smart."

"It could be a complete moron."

"You might get a chance to meet someone really nice."

"I might become the laughing stock of the school."

"It could be-"

The sound of the bell above the shop's entrance chiming instantly silenced Sakura. Simultaneously, both girls turned just as the new comer strolled into the store. Sakura looked at the customer, and instantly burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. Ino, on the other hand, found herself too weak to say anything, and merely continued staring at the person who had walked into her store, her eyes wide with horror.

"Uh…" Nara Shikamaru said perplexedly. "What's going on?"

* * *

Naruto groaned wearily as he collapsed on the ground. The cement floor of his jail cell was rough and hard, but the cold touch of cobblestone felt terrific against his bare, sweat soaked, flesh. His shirt, ripped and equally drenched in sweat, was balled up in the corner of his cell, forgotten in the heat of his and Instructor Kakashi's latest training session. His muscles screamed in agony at the abuse they had endured, and even the brief respite that the cold ground allowed did little to silence the thousand small aches that wracked Naruto's body. Crawling back onto his hands and knees, the young Genin propped his back up against the wall and exhaled deeply.

He looked up at Instructor Kakashi who was leaning against the opposite wall, arms folded calmly across his chest. Naruto snorted in disbelief. Two hours of intense sparring and the bastard hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Better," Kakashi praised his student. "You're controlling your chakra a lot better."

"But not good enough to get out of here?" Naruto asked mournfully.

The white-haired instructor shook his head sadly. "We're still a long way from there. But its progress, Naruto, and the harder you work the faster we'll get there."

Naruto grinned and hopped back to his feet. "Let's get going then!"

Kakashi chuckled at the boy's youthful eagerness. "Take a second to rest, Naruto. We're not going to go any faster if you're too tired to train properly."

With a soft sigh Naruto dropped back to the floor, slightly relieved that Kakashi had said that. If his body would allow it, Naruto would train all day and all night, if only so he could get out of this god forsaken prison cell quicker. But there was also no denying how much his body hurt from the beating Kakashi had given it during their sparring. And from the looks of it, the Jounin Instructor wasn't even trying that hard either.

"We've been doing hand-to-hand combat for a while now," Naruto said. "When can we move onto chakra techniques?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Not for a while still. You're hold on the Kyubi is still delicate. I don't want you leaping into something you're probably not ready to handle."

"So if I were to use a simple Shadow Clone Technique, the Kyubi might take over again?" Naruto wondered fearfully.

"Not exactly." Kakashi explained. "But it certainly allows the possibility more than if you're doing regular hand-to-hand exercises."

Naruto nodded his head and drummed his fingers distractedly against the ground. He looked normal enough, thought Kakashi. But the white-haired Jounin knew that more than likely this was just another mask Naruto wore, an unconscious act where he erected a façade of happiness to hide the pain that lurked beneath. Naruto was hurting still, and it was important for Kakashi to keep his mind off everything that he would be missing out of while learning to suppress the Kyubi.

"Hey, Instructor Kakashi," Naruto said suddenly. "Have you ever been in love?"

The question startled Kakashi. Partially it was because Naruto was actually asking something serious, and also because no one had ever been brave enough to ask such a bold question. Leave it to Naruto to do something completely unexpected. The Jounin smiled underneath his mask.

"Sure, I loved my father and my mother."

"No," said Naruto, shaking his head. "I mean like a girl."

Being a Konoha ninja did not provide much time for fraternizing with the opposite sex. Combined with his time as ANBU, and then as an instructor, it was really no surprise that Kakashi did not have an answer forthcoming. Besides, something like love was highly discouraged by the Ninja Code, and Kakashi had always been a strict adherent of the rules.

But no. He could tell Naruto all of that if he wanted. But it wouldn't be the truth, and he did not want to lie to Naruto. The village had disrespected Naruto all his life by being dishonest with the boy; Kakashi would not continue with that tradition no matter what the topic may be.

"Once, a long time ago I think I was in love," admitted Kakashi.

"What happened to her?" Naruto asked curiously. "How come you didn't get married?"

Kakashi frowned. He hated thinking about _her. _Even to a man who had seen hundreds of his comrades fall in battle, any recollection of _her _was almost too painful to bear. "She…she died."

"Oh." Naruto said softly. He looked at the ground and bit his lip, regretting asking something so stupid. Curiosity, however, overrode common sense once again and got the better of him. "What was her name?"

"Her name…"

Kakashi looked out into space, his mind flashing back to that one fateful day. It had been dark and raining. He had arrived just in time to watch her draw her last breath. Blood covering her face, she had looked up at Kakashi and smiled, content that the last thing she saw before dying was her friend She had reached up to touch his face, and he had taken her hand into his. Cradling her in his arms, he had held her until she grew still, and wouldn't let go until the medics pried her away.

"Her name was Rin."

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Chapter 32 finished and only a week later than expected! Yes! Was only somewhat satisfied with the way this one turned out. I'll work out on fleshing out the various pairings later on, and in the next couple of chapters, the first appearance of some of _YOUR _original characters will make their debut. Not telling which ones, but keep an eye out for them. Also, I've been dying for ages to explore the Kakashi/Rin pairing that I alluded to, and so next chapter I think I might write a short one-shot for it. Either that or it'll appear as its own story in the next couple of weeks. 

Thanks for reading and be sure to review! Your feedback is ALWAYS appreciated. Comments, criticism, suggestions, more OC's –if you have any ideas that you think might improve the story, don't hesitate to toss it my way!


	33. Chapter 33

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: I don't own Naruto, but I do own this story. Guinness Beer! BRILLIANT!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty Three: Rejection**

Kiba cursed under his breath as he stalked through the undergrowth of Konoha's dense forest. Naked branches whacked into the side of his, scraping his face and leaving angry, red welts across his skin as Kiba brushed past, but the minor irritants were not enough to distract the young Inuzuka. Annoyed, he continued to push through the trees, swatting away the obstructing branches with his arms. Little, furry, forest dwellers screeched in terror and fled from the furious human beast, scurrying up trees to their sanctuary above the ground where they shook their tiny paws in outraged defiance. But Kiba ignored their resentful glares as much as he ignored the echoing _snaps _and _cracks _of age old plants being crushed beneath his boots. From a young age the children of Konoha had been taught to revere their forest as something sacred, but quite simply, right now, Kiba just didn't care.

The stinging feeling of rejection still lingered inside his chest, that hollow feeling deep inside his gut aching with envy and to a greater extent, anger. He was angry at Hinata, at Naruto, at the world at large, but more so he was angry at himself.

_How could have I been so dumb? _wondered Kiba. The question was always accompanied a second later by, _why did I even do that?_

Why had he asked Hinata out? It had made tons of sense a second before the fateful words had slipped from his mouth, but now, it seemed like the most irrational thing in the world to do. No matter how he analyzed it, when he stopped to think about it, he didn't even _like _Hinata that way. But a different facet of his mind argued against that conclusion, convincing Kiba that his interest in her extended beyond that of just friendship. He had always loved Hinata in a brotherly sort of way, but had that love evolved over the years into something deeper without Kiba even noticing it?

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he hopped down a small hill onto the banks of a river that ran through the middle of the forest. It was odd that he found himself there, a spot of great significance to the children of Konoha. The river, a tranquilly flowing body of sparkling, clear, blue water was where every ninja spent part of their childhood at. Whether it was fishing, swimming, basking in the sun in the company of friends, or learning basic ninja techniques like chakra control, the river was home to many memories, almost all of them fond.

Like the time he, Naruto, and Kyo had spied on the girls-only swim meet, only to end up falling into a trap the girl's had set and spending the entire day in a pit full of poison ivy. They had bickered for hours, hurling insults and accusations at one another until they had subsided into defeated silence. They laughed about it the next day of course, reveling in their misery and finding unity in their shared experience.

A small grin formed across his lips, but a second later it faded. He was supposed to be mad at Naruto. Naruto was the reason why Hinata wouldn't even give him a second glance. Naruto was the reason why Kiba would always be "just a friend" to the girl Kiba desired more than anyone else in the world. So why was it that whenever he thought about the mischievous blonde, he could only smile?

Kiba wished Akamaru was there instead of at his home, waiting anxiously for his master to return. The faithful hound always knew best and no doubt Kiba could benefit from his sagely advice.

He picked up a rock and skipped it across the surface of the river-one, two, three, four times until it sank beneath the surface. The water looked inviting, calling Kiba to kick off his boots and dip his feet into it, but Kiba knew better. Just because the river had not frozen solid was by no means any indication that the water was any warmer than the weather.

A soft sigh escaped his lips and he dug his hands into his pockets. He had been hoping returning to the river would calm his heavy spirit, but the happy memories this sport harbored only seemed to make the ache in his heart worst. He turned, and was just about ready to return home, when someone called out to him.

"Thought I'd find you here, Inuzuka."

Standing on a tall boulder a few meters away was Mayumi Asuka. She was now garbed in a green, woolen cloak, attire more appropriate for the cold environs than the form fitting red jumpsuit that Kiba remembered her normally wearing. In her hands was her bow, and slung across her back was a quiver of arrows. A mangled pile of bloody fur at her feet revealed that she had probably just returned from hunting.

"You did, huh?" asked Kiba. "Why? Were you looking for me?"

Asuka shook her head. "No, I was just wondering who made such a mess trampling through the woods like some inbred savage. See anyone that fits that description?"

Kiba flustered, embarrassed. The Mayumi clan, along with the Hanazaki clan, was a family commissioned by the Nara clan to assist them in their roles as caretakers of the Konoha forest. Through the ages, their sons and daughters had assumed the roles from their parents, and now it was the next generation's turn to become guardians of the woods.

"You know," Asuka said pointing her finger accusingly at Kiba. "You're lucky it wasn't Issei's turn to patrol the woods. You know how serious he takes his job."

A little _too _serious in Kiba's mind. The thought made him shudder. Hanazaki Issei would have probably tried to trip him up in a trap or something to get back at him for damaging the forest, and Kiba would have undoubtedly fallen into it. Issei was Konoha's number one trap master…well, number three technically after his mother and father.

"Sorry," Kiba muttered. "I was in sort of a bad mood."

Asuka sniggered. "Yeah, I bet. I heard Hinata turned you down."

"News sure travels fast," he muttered. He glared at Asuka. "What's it to you anyway?"

"Nothing. I just derive pleasure from your misery, that's all." The archer said with a small shrug. "Your sadness makes me smile."

That made Kiba laugh –Asuka's bland, sarcastic brand of humor always made him smile regardless of how inappropriate it normally was. As much as he wanted to be mad at her too for making light of his troubles, he could not bring himself too. Slowly, he found the anger within him ebbing away, bleeding its way out of a system like poison being released from his body.

"It's not a big deal. I was stupid to even ask." Kiba said.

"I'd say."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The wolf trainer demanded.

Asuka hopped down from her boulder and rested her weapons against it. She stretched her arms towards the sky, and then reclined against the cragged, rocky formation. "Poor girl is head over heels in love with that moron in our class. What's his name?"

"Naruto." Kiba supplied.

"Yeah, him. I can't imagine what might have possessed you to even try and compete with that level of obsession."

"Me neither."

A thought struck Asuka and she smiled. "You know, as big of an idiot as Naruto may be, from what I know of him, he seems to be a pretty nice guy."

"What? Of course I know he's a nice guy! He's my friend after all, and-"

"But he's just not good enough to date your friend, right?"

Kiba's words died in his mouth, and he closed it abruptly. Suddenly he understood. It wasn't jealousy or the rejection that was making Kiba mad. It wasn't the fact that Naruto had won her affection, or that Hinata was unwilling to surrender her and Kiba's friendship for the sake of a precarious romance. He had known it all along, but it had taken someone, in this case Asuka, to throw the obvious in his face and make him open his eyes and see it.

Kiba was afraid of losing Hinata; much like an overprotective brother might safeguard his little sister. It did not matter which boy it was, none of them could possibly meet Kiba's standards for dating the girl he cared so very much about. The only way to continue protecting Hinata was to date her himself, supplying perhaps the only person in the world who could provide for her sufficiently. He loved Hinata, but not romantically. He wanted to date her to protect her, not to be in love with her.

There was nothing wrong with Naruto. There never had been. He was merely the one unfortunate enough to gain Hinata's attention and procure Kiba's ire. But the difference between him and Kiba, the one thing that made him a better suitor for Hinata than Kiba, was that he could give her what she needed.

Not another brother, but someone who could love her.

"I guess I'm pretty dumb," Kiba said.

"Well now that you acknowledge that fact we can move on." Asuka said teasingly. She picked up her bow and arrows and slung them across her shoulder. "Now that you've solved your little crisis, mind not destroying my forest anymore?"

Kiba watched her start to walk away and frowned. There was no way he would let her get in the last word. He felt like he should say something, something that would relay his gratitude to Asuka for her assistance, but simultaneously not overtly displaying the fact that he needed her help to begin with. Ever since they had returned from Kakami, a silent rivalry had formed between the two, and revealing any weakness would only give Asuka an edge in their private vendetta. Therefore, he needed to say something clever, something witty, something that would impress her.

"Hey, want to go to the dance with me, Asuka?" Kiba asked.

No sooner had the words left his lips did Kiba squeeze his eyes shut and wished a bolt of lightening would strike him dead. Asuka turned and looked at him the way someone might look at something disgusting on the underside of their boot. Kiba briefly wondered if she might actually shoot him for being so stupid –in that case at least his humility would be short lived. But she made no movement to string an arrow. Instead, she did the last thing Kiba would ever expect from the sarcastic, no nonsense archer.

Asuka blushed. A crimson flush as red as her hair spread across her face, and hastily she looked away from Kiba's inquiring stare.

"So, do you?" he asked again. "I mean, we don't have to go as a couple even. Just as, you know? Friends."

"Just friends?"

"Sure."

Asuka faced Kiba again, and this time all traces of embarrassment were gone, instead replaced by that haughty arrogance that the fiery red head was infamous for. She shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Fine. If only to keep you from bringing your dog to the dance instead of a girl."

Kiba grinned, not the least bit put off by her insults. "If I bring you with me, what would be the difference?" he retorted.

The archer chuckled. "Fine, Inuzuka. You have yourself a date. A first, I'm sure."

"Likewise."

They both laughed and with an acknowledging nod of the head, Asuka departed back into the woods. Once he was sure she was gone, Kiba exhaled deeply and sat down on the grass beside the river. He glanced at his hands. They were shaking like mad, as if he had just done something terrifying and not just asked out probably the last person in the world Kiba should have been contemplating asking out to begin with. Well, on second thought, that _was_ pretty terrifying. And stupid.

A whole entire night with the most sardonic, stuck up, condescending girls in his grade? Maybe he was better off being dumped.

_What have I gotten myself into? _Kiba wondered.

* * *

Naruto weaved to the side at the last possible moment, barely missing the wooden tip of Kakashi's training kunai as it moved to plunge into his chest. With his own weapon, he batted aside Kakashi's blade and counter lunged, but as expected, the silver haired Jounin twisted out of harm's way before any real threat was presented. Panting with exertion and sweat pouring down his brow, Naruto retreated to his side of his cell, tossing his kunai from hand to hand as he took a breather and analyzed the situation.

Frustration was welling up inside Naruto's chest, despite all attempts to quell it. Today's goal was to hit Instructor Kakashi just once with his training kunai, but after literally hours of unsuccessful attempts, he was beginning to grow very weary and impatient with the exercise. To say the goal was unfair was a gross understatement. Kakashi was a hardened veteran; Naruto was still a trainee. The chances of actually landed a blow on the elusive, silver haired Jounin was nonexistent.

"Focus!" Kakashi commanded. "Concentrate your chakra into your feet and your hands. Move faster, hit faster, dodge faster."

_Easy for you to say, _Naruto thought, gritting his teeth angrily. _You're not the one with a demon just waiting to possess you every time you mold chakra. _

With a loud yell, Naruto surged forward. He struck at Kakashi, but his attack was neatly parried, and before he could return to defending the inevitable counter attack, Kakashi's knee connected hard in the center of his abdomen. Naruto's kunai clattered to the ground and Naruto grunted and fell on the floor, clutching his stomach in agony.

"You're hesitating in your attack too much," Kakashi rebuked softly.

Naruto groaned. Of course he was hesitating. He was scared that if he tried too hard, used too much chakra or even let his emotions get out of check for even an instant, he would lose control of his powers again. He could not fight the enemy before him if his mind was consistently fighting a foe _within_ him.

_Let me free…_

Naruto paused and gritted his teeth. That voice. The voice of the Kyubi.

_If only you'd allow me to help you, you could be more powerful than this fool. More powerful than anyone!_

Its seductive whisper echoed in Naruto's mind, but fortunately it was just that –only a whisper. It was a good sign. The Kyubi had grown quieter as the days passed, its voice becoming softer and its persuasiveness less effective. It was almost as if the Kyubi could sense Naruto's conviction to ignore it and was giving up. More than likely, however, it was merely retreating for the time being and waiting to lull Naruto into a false sense of confidence before striking again.

_I don't need you, _Naruto spat. _I can do this on my own!_

Crawling back to his feet, Naruto snapped his palms together and began to mold chakra as his hands formed seal after seal. Using a chakra technique was risky, but he needed to prove something. He needed to show the Kyubi, and to a greater extent, himself, that he did not need any demon's aid in order to be great.

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Naruto smiled as a dozen copies of himself shimmered into existence beside him. Each one was his identical twin, displaying none of the anomalies of a flawed clone that an improper or inferior Shadow Clone Technique might produce. His confidence bolstered by his success, his doubts slowly faded. He could do this. He was going to be the Hokage one day. Hitting Hatake Kakashi should be no problem.

Grasping the wooden kunai in his hands, Naruto jumped into the air, high above Kakashi's head. At the same time, his army of clones swept towards the silver haired Jounin, their blades held out before them like a phalanx of spearmen.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, caught momentarily unprepared by Naruto's surprising resourcefulness. He mentally rebuked himself. He had told Naruto _not _to use any chakra techniques, which was a mistake, and yet, at the same time, not a mistake at all. Naruto was born to bend rules, and while this opened up the possibility of him doing something foolish and dangerous, it also allowed him to push himself beyond the limits anyone placed on him.

One eye watching the advancing horde of Naruto's clones, he reached up to tilting his forehead protector and pulled it up, revealing his Sharingan. The physical forms of Naruto and his duplicates vanished in a blinding light as chakra rushed into Kakashi's magical eye, and were replaced by masses of swirling orange chakra. What was interesting, though, was that Naruto's chakra was contained and orderly, not like the chaotic mess that his chakra stream would be like if influenced by the Kyubi. The boy's chakra level was still immense, wild and sporadic, a very dangerous combination, but there was more control to it than Kakashi had predicted.

He wished for a moment he could summon a member of the Hyuga clan to analyze Naruto more carefully with their more advanced Byakugan, but it would have to wait. Given Hiashi's newfound level of animosity towards Naruto, it was probably better to leave anyone from the Hyuga clan out of this affair, at least for the moment.

The silver haired Jounin did not wait for Naruto's clones to attack. He ran forward and a single well placed kick sent them scattering. Loud _poof _noises echoed throughout the cell as the boy's clones disappeared into clouds of smoke, but for every one Kakashi destroyed, another seemed to take its place. Kakashi delivered a bone shattering elbow into the face of one clone, and then reversed into a deadly spin kick that sent the rest of his assailants flying backwards.

"I got you now!" yelled Naruto from above.

Kakashi smiled and calmly reached up and snatched the real Naruto, the one soaring through the air, and tossed him back. "Nice try." The boy slammed against the ground and fell down with a defeated groan. And then it vanished.

_Poof! _

Kakashi's Sharingan only gave him a split seconds heads up, but that was enough. A warning from behind gave Kakashi the time to spin at the last possible second. Naruto's kunai missed him by an inch. The silver haired Jounin stuck out his foot and tripped Naruto as the youth stumbled past, knocking the mischievous ninja flat on his face.

"Ouch," Naruto groaned as he propped himself on his bruised arms. Kakashi offered him a hand and pulled the boy back to his feet.

"How did you feel?" Kakashi asked.

"It hurt. What do you think?" snapped Naruto peevishly. He was annoyed that his strategy had not worked, especially after he had done such a good job fooling himself about the possibility of succeeding in hitting Instructor Kakashi.

""No, not how _do _you feel. How _did _you feel." corrected Kakashi. "How did you feel when you were channeling your chakra to use that technique?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't know," Naruto replied, tousling his hair in apparent confusion. "Normal I guess."

"You didn't feel anything? Anger? Agitation? Fear? Anxiety?" persisted Kakashi. "Nothing out of the ordinary?"

Naruto shook his head. "No. I just used a shadow clone technique like I've done it a hundred times before. Nothing special this time around. Why? Should I have?"

"I'm not sure," Kakashi confessed, this time himself slightly confused. "Either you're showing amazing progress in inhibiting the Kyubi's influence on you or…"

"Or what?" Naruto inquired hopefully. He did not want to hear the "or" that ended Kakashi's statement, the ominous portent that alluded to the possibility of everything not being as bright and shiny as he wanted it to be. He wanted to hold on to this small sunray of hope and hide it from whatever obscuring cloud Kakashi was about ready to unleash

"Or maybe I've been wrong about my diagnosis all along." Kakashi concluded simply. "But I sincerely doubt it."

"You've never been wrong before?" Naruto asked skeptically. He wasn't sure if that was good news or bad news and the uncertainty made him all the more nervous.

"Almost never," the silver haired Jounin replied without, Naruto noticed with a dry snort of exasperation, any hesitation or pretense of modesty. But then again, one did not become a prodigy child by being consistently wrong about things.

Naruto sighed and reclined on the dusty ground, wincing as a particularly sharp rock dug into his spine. He ignored the pain and relaxed. Kakashi had received special permission for them to leave the small confines of Naruto's cell and train in the considerably more spacious prison yard. It was not much of a yard really, more like an arid patch of sand and gravel surrounded by towering high fences with lethal doses of chakra coursing through them. But it was still the outdoors. After weeks of being caged away, the opportunity to be outside again, breathing fresh air and basking in the sun, was incredible. It did not matter how many guards were watching his every movement -while he was outside, Naruto could bask in the illusion of freedom.

"So how much longer of this?" Naruto asked wearily. He looked up into the sky, shielding his eyes from the sun's intense rays. Somewhere out there his friends were studying for their finals. Assuming he even had friends anymore. Somewhere out there Hinata was…no. He closed his eyes and forced himself to suppress the thought. Hinata was the last person he wanted to think about. It hurt too much.

Kakashi considered the question. "Another week of intense training and I'd be willing to petition to the Hokage to have you released under careful guard."

"Another week, huh?" the boy said with a sad, resigned sigh. "A day after the dance."

A long silence passed between the two, student and mentor. Kakashi said nothing because there was nothing to say. He felt awful to deprive Naruto of such a special occasion in the boy's life, but at the same time, releasing Naruto when he was unprepared was nothing short of foolish and incredibly dangerous. Kakashi wanted Naruto enjoy his childhood, to experience the joy that Kakashi never experienced as a boy, but at the same time, the village, and all the thousands of innocent he had sworn to protect, came before Naruto's happiness.

They were ninja. _Shinobi._

The life they chose to lead would not be an easy one –they had known that the day they forsook the life of normality and attended the Academy to become ninja. A life full of lies, deceit, sacrifice and bloodshed, a life devoid of love, kindness, a life constructed on a foundation of blind loyalty to your village and Hokage –that was the life a Shinobi chose.

That was the life Kakashi had chosen.

That was the life Kakashi hoped Naruto would never have to live.

"I…" Naruto whispered into the air, speaking to no one and everyone at the same time. "I just wanted to be normal."

The tragedy was, Kakashi knew, was that Naruto was anything _but _normal. The demon inside him, the obscurity of a lineage Kakashi was forbidden to reveal, the untapped potential that waited for Naruto to master…indeed, Uzumaki Naruto was by far the least normal boy Kakashi had ever met.

"I thought you wanted to become Hokage." Kakashi reminded Naruto.

Naruto thought about that for a while. "Becoming the Hokage…that was just a dream. And dreams…well…they're just that, you know? Dreams are dreams because they will never come true. Otherwise they would not be dreams."

"That's by far the most depressing thing I have ever heard you say."

The blonde haired ninja shrugged indifferently. "I'm just being realistic. Face it. Locked up in jail for having a demon inside me and hated or feared by almost the entire village. Not the impressive resume in order to becoming the Hokage, don't you think?"

"You're starting to sound a lot like Sasuke."

"Maybe he had the right idea."

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"You think Sasuke was wrong?" Naruto asked, surprised. Never had he heard anyone suggest the possibility that something Sasuke said might have been wrong.

"I think-"

But what Kakashi thought Naruto did not find out. Suddenly, the main gate leading to the prison yard sprang open and an ANBU guardsman came running in. He dropped to one knee before Kakashi and ripped off his mask. Naruto gaped in amazement at the man. When he thought of ANBU, he thought of fearless warriors. But the man behind the mask was anything but. The guard's face was pale as death, and his lips trembled as he tried to force out his message to Kakashi.

"I-Instructor Kakashi," the man stuttered. "R-report to the Hokage's office immediately!"

Kakashi waved off the guardsmen. "I'm busy."

"It's urgent!"

"So is my business."

"B-but, someone is here, Instructor! It's…it's…"

"It's who?" Kakashi demanded impatiently.

"It's Orochimaru! He's here! In the Hokage's office!"

The moment Naruto saw Kakashi react to the name; he knew something was terribly wrong. Never before had he seen Kakashi's face so severe, and what more, there was something in his single, visible eye that Naruto had never seen before: fear. Something about the man's name the messenger had uttered was enough to frighten Hatake Kakashi, the one man in the world that Naruto thought was impossible to intimidate.

"Return Naruto his cell," Kakashi snapped. Without another word, he threw down a smoke bomb from his equipment satchel, and when the dust faded, he was gone.

Naruto was still so surprised by Kakashi's reaction that he offered no resistance or complaint when the guardsmen shackled him and roughly pushed him back towards his cell. He was too entranced by what had happened. What could possibly make someone like Kakashi afraid? And more importantly…

Who the hell was Orochimaru?

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Finished! And only a week late this time! BRILLIANT! Sorry about the long update. I blame World of Warcraft. Thanks again for all your OC contributions. Several more will begin to make their appearance –this chapter only featured one in passing, but they will begin to play a far more integral role in the story.

And don't worry –I won't be pairing up any more OC's with canon characters. Asuka just seemed to be the most convenient choice given that I paired Kiba up with her a few chapters ago. But hey, two completely incompatible personalities can't last long. Can they?

Again, sorry it took me so long to get this up. Be sure to review! More reviews faster chapters. A flawed formula I'm sure, but I like to pretend it's true. And what about them new shiny Naruto episodes? Worth the wait, no?


	34. Chapter 34

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: If there was one copyright notice per chapter…there'd be…how many?

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty Four: What One Must Do**

Tsunade struggled to remain calm as she gazed upon the group that has assembled in her office. Earlier that day, a party of seven men had arrived at the gates of Konoha requesting a meeting with their Hokage. Four of the men were bodyguards, clad in armor and carrying sheathed halberds slung across their backs. The other two were dignitaries of sort. Oddly enough, they did not make any movement to speak, but instead seemed content to remain obscured in the background, allowing _him _to take charge of the conversation.

She forced her face to convey none of the emotions boiling deep within her. The key to a ninja's weakness was located through their feelings, and regardless of the new comer's assurance of peaceful intention, Tsunade was not the least bit convinced. Not for the first time did she wish she had never taken the role of Hokage after the Yondaime's passing. Had she not, she would be free to leap over her desk and plunge a knife in the traitor who stood before her. But as Hokage, the responsibility of an entire country rested on her shoulders. Executing a foreign dignitary under a flag of truce was tantamount to a declaration of war, and Tsunade would not plunge Konoha into another bloody war just for the sake of vengeance.

Not yet at least. Not until she found out what he had to say.

Flanking the new comers were Tsunade's men. Instructor's Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai as well as a half dozen of Konoha's elite ANBU stood near by, watching Orochimaru and his men carefully, prepared to draw arms and fight to the death at a moment's notice. Tsunade noticed that a few members she had summoned had not shown up, ANBU captain Yaguo and Instructor Anko. It was probably for the best. Given their unique grudges with Orochimaru, having them present might only instigate trouble that Tsunade did not desire.

"Tsunade, I am amazed," Orochimaru said. "I heard the rumors of you becoming Konoha's Hokage, but never in my life would I have believed it."

Had she been truly listening to what Orochimaru was saying, Tsunade supposed she might have been slightly insulted. However, she was busy studying the man, analyzing him for weaknesses just as she knew Orochimaru was doing to her. It had been almost twenty years now since Orochimaru had betrayed Konoha and plunged the world into the flames of war, and Tsunade would have been a fool to think that her adversary had not changed, evolved even, in that span of a time.

What had not changed, though, was Orochimaru's appearance. He looked exactly the same as the last time Tsunade had seen him. He was not particularly tall or particularly small, but there was something about the way he stood, that arrogant sort of lilt in his spine, that exuded a confidence only a larger man would cloak himself with. His smooth, flawless skin was ashen white, and his long, silky hair was midnight black. His eyes were painted, his lips coated in a thick, sparkling gel, his fingernails manicured and shimmering –he looked every bit as sexually ambiguous as the way Tsunade remembered. Handsome and yet pretty, masculine and at the same time feminine.

Tsunade folded her hands and leaned forward in her seat, resting her shoulders on her desk. "What do you want?"

Orochimaru smirked. "Tsunade, do you-"

"I was not talking to you, _Orochimaru," _snapped Tsunade, saying the man's name like it was poison on her tongue. "I was speaking to the gentleman standing behind you."

Orochimaru subsided into silence, smart enough to know that while in her office, Tsunade dictated the terms of negotiation. Though his face revealed none of it, Tsunade could tell he was seething with fury. He had walked into this meeting with the anticipation of leading it, but in one stroke Tsunade had stripped him of that power and reduced him to a mere spectator.

"As I said, what do you want?" she asked.

Sheepishly, the two men stepped forward and gave a courteous bow before Tsunade's desk. Up close, Tsunade could clearly see their affiliation, a sight that sent an ominous chill trickled down her spine. One wore a forehead protector of the Hidden Village of Rock, and the other the Hidden Village of Cloud. Together, they represented two of the largest Hidden Villages in the world, villages which Konoha had fought against in the Second Great Shinobi War and eventually defeated. However, many would argue that even though there was peace in the world, Konoha was still very much at war with the two nations. A lot of bad blood still existed long after the war ended, and it was common knowledge that only a very fragile truce kept the countries from plunging the world back into war.

"We have come before you today, mighty Hokage," the ambassador the Hidden Village of Rock, "To bring before you an offer of peace."

"Peace?" Tsunade inquired. "I'm sorry, but I did not realize we were at war."

The ambassador from Hidden Cloud Village allowed himself to chuckle, albeit nervously and without any real humor. "Please, Hokage, do not be naïve. The peace we share is the one forged from our defeat, and we wish to rectify that by constructing a genuine peace through the creation of an alliance between our great nations."

"The war," continued the Rock ambassador, "taught us that there is nothing to gain through war. Lives are lost, money is lost, and opportunity is lost. War is a lose-lose situation for all of us, so what better way to avert war than to make potential enemies into your friends? Why close our boarders and promote isolationism when we can open them and unite?"

Tsunade nodded her head thoughtfully. There was much truth to what the ambassadors said. Ever since the end of the Second Shinobi War, trade between the nations of Earth, Fire, and Lightening have been severely limited. Reopening these trade routes would stimulate the economy and encourage expansionism.

"There would be much to benefit from opening our boarders to the nations of Earth and Lightening." Tsunade mused.

"Our countries would prosper," agreed the Rock ambassador. "Konoha would become a capitol for trade and would flourish to a state greater than ever. One can only gain by joining the alliance we propose."

"And so you bring this offer of friendship to all the nations? To our smaller neighbors like Bear and Moon country?"

An awkward silence filled the Hokage's office, and the two glanced nervously at each other.

"Ah…well…" said the Cloud ambassador timidly. "For the time being our direct concern is gaining the commitment of our more…well…_immediate _neighbors."

In other words, no other country had been approached yet. Konoha was either the first or one of the few. Orochimaru and his minions wanted to either use Konoha as a staging point to encompass the other major Hidden Villages, or isolate them. Were Konoha to accept, The Hidden Sand Village, Suna, would be quick to follow, and so on. But should Konoha refuse, they would stand alone. The smaller villages could not afford to make many enemies, and were the invitation for an alliance ever extended to them; many would be quick to accept, even at the cost of going to war with the Hidden Leaf Village.

"And if Konoha were to refuse to join this alliance?" Tsunade asked pointedly.

It was a dangerous question, but one that needed to be asked and one that needed to be answered. It cut straight to the core of their proposition, revealing it in its entirety without obscuring pretense or manipulative lies. The ambassadors spoke of peace, unity, and an alliance; however, the way they responded now would clearly define their true intentions.

The two flustered ambassadors had no answer, but Orochimaru did. When the dignitaries said nothing, Orochimaru pushed pass them and smiled at Tsunade.

"If you are not our friend," Orochimaru said oily, savoring every syllable of every word that slid off his silken tongue. "Then what else can we rationally presume?"

"N-now, Lord Orochimaru. I-I'm not sure we would go as far as to say that. We can still be-"protested the Rock ambassador, but a mere gesture of Orochimaru's hand silenced him. It only confirmed what Tsunade had suspected all along. It was Orochimaru running this show, regardless of what the two idiots standing behind him thought. Rock and Cloud controlled two of the largest villages in the world, but Orochimaru with his gift of guile and persuasive speech, had manipulated them into the palm of his hand.

Tsunade returned Orochimaru's smile, but like his, there was nothing pleasant about it. While his was coated with malice and hate, Tsunade's was full of contempt. "So that's the way it's going to be." She said. "Orochimaru, you could always only see things in two colors."

"And what colors would those be?"

"White as pale as your skin," the Hokage spat. Her mask slipped, but it didn't matter. She no longer cared about restraining the unadulterated contempt she felt for soulless hell spawn standing before her. "And black as dark as your heart."

Orochimaru chuckled, a creepy sort of cackle that resonated ominously throughout the office. "Tsunade, you were always partial to dramatics."

"And you were partial towards duplicity and murder, traitor." Tsunade spat.

She spared a second to look at the ambassadors. They seemed neither shocked nor surprised to hear the scathing insults and accusations that Tsunade hurled at Orochimaru. In fact, they appeared completely indifferent, almost as if they had finally arrived to a point in their negotiations that they were actually expecting. Rock and Wind were not ignorant of who Orochimaru was. They knew he was a traitor, a fugitive of Konoha wanted for the murder of their Hokage, but Orochimaru had somehow convinced them to turn a blind eye to his trespasses, trespasses that would inevitably lead to conflict with Konoha and her allies. But what?

"Careful, _Hokage," _Orochimaru warned. "Remember, that the snake always defeats the slug."

Suddenly, the doors to the Hokage's office were thrown open and Jiraiya walked in. His face was stern, cold and severe, something which Tsunade had rarely seen before. Upon seeing her old comrade, her spirits lifted, though, suffice to say, only a little. There was something about Jiraiya's presence that always inspired confidence in her, that convinced her that while some things might be impossible for _one _legendary Jounin, _nothing_ was impossible for two of them.

He came to a stop beside Tsunade's desk and glared at Orochimaru. "How quickly we forget, Orochimaru," He said. "That the frog always defeats the snake."

"Jiraiya," Orochimaru said with a broad grin. He threw his hands in the air and laughed. "The whole gang is here! The three Legendary Jounin reunited once again!"

"What lies has this snake bastard told Rock and Wind?" Jiraiya wondered, ignoring Orochimaru completely. "Or are they really just stupid enough to blindly follow Orochimaru to their certain doom?"

The ambassadors stiffened at Jiraiya's callous words, but they said nothing. They could seldom afford to be rude to the Hokage, but faced with two of the most feared and respected ninjas in recent history, they dared not say anything just to be safe. Instead, like lost sheep without their master, they looked timidly at Orochimaru for guidance.

"I command a formidable force," Orochimaru explained. "A worthy addition to our alliance."

"You command less than a seventy-five ninja," Jiraiya contradicted. "And no have no militia to speak of."

"Your experiments," Tsunade said, a horrible realization dawning on her. There was no other explanation. Orochimaru commanded a small village of ninja, but not nearly large enough to convince Rock and Wind to risk war to become his ally. He needed something else to appeal to their lust for power, something which only he could provide. "You're bargaining with your experiments."

Orochimaru grinned broadly, revealing rows of thin, fangs, not dissimilar to the snake he associated himself with. "Let's just say I have something that everyone wants. Even you, Jiraiya, and you Tsunade."

No. Tsunade knew that Orochimaru's intentionally evasive wording could only allude to one thing. He had something which both she and Jiraiya desired. Only one thing came to mind, and she knew of only one experiment of Orochimaru's that could give it to them.

Years ago, there had been one experiment that the Third Hokage had caught Orochimaru conducting, a deadly experiment that had resulted in the death of over a dozen fellow ninjas. It was the first of many crimes Orochimaru would commit against the village, and far from the worst, but this was the one that had him branded as a menace to the people of Konoha and exiled. His experiment was destroyed without ever knowing what it was truly designed for, but it was always rumored that it had something to do with…

"Your resurrection experiment." Tsunade whispered.

"One of many experiments that have transformed from theory into reality." Orochimaru confirmed. "And now I give you the opportunity to share in my research, to earn my forgiveness for ever exiling me."

Beside her, Jiraiya clenched his jaw tightly together. "You're a monster," He growled.

"Because a few had to die in the name of science?" Orochimaru asked. "Think of how many lives I can bring back with my work. Powerful heroes, or," he looked meaningfully at Tsunade. "Loved ones cruelly robbed from you by fate. Think of it. Your brother and fiancé, Tsunade. Jiraiya, your protégé and friends."

Orochimaru extended his hand towards the two Jounin. "You can have them back. All I ask is your friendship. What do you say?"

"Lord Orochimaru is both wise and powerful," added one of the ambassadors. "It would be foolish to refuse his offer."

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya. Their eyes met, and then, Tsunade knew there was only one choice she could make. The fate of all of Konoha resided on the choice she made now. She could ally with Orochimaru and compromise the foundational beliefs and values of the village, as well as disgrace those who died opposing Orochimaru, but the rewards would be great. Konoha would flourish; an alliance between the largest countries in the world would elevate the Hidden Leaf Village to a level of prosperity never before witnessed, and Tsunade would always be remembered as being the one responsible for Konoha's wealth. Or she could reject Orochimaru, and in all likelihood, risk inciting another war that Konoha could not afford to fight.

What would the Third Hokage do? What would the Fourth have done to save the world he loved? What would she do now to ensure the survival of Konoha?

Jiraiya nodded slowly. A silent _you know what to do _that only Tsunade could only hear.

"So, Tsunade –_Hokage. _What do you say?" Orochimaru asked again.

She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. _Gods aid me," _she silently prayed. _Generations to come, forgive me. _

With blinding speed, Tsunade snatched the blade out of one of her ANBU guardsmen's scabard, and without a moment's hesitation, hurled over her desk and with a single bellow of rage, buried the sword deep into Orochimaru's heart.

The room erupted into chaos. The ambassadors cried out in horrified indignation, and their bodyguards immediately went for their weapons. Tsunade's men were faster though, and before a single one of Rock or Wind's ninja were able to draw their weapons, the instructors and ANBU guardsmen had them surrounded, blades leveled at their throats. The escorts had little other choice than to stand down. Outmanned and outgunned, any additional violence in the Hokage's chamber would only result not only in their deaths, but also the death of their charges. Tsunade had to give them some credit for that. They were incredibly disciplined to not draw arms after witnessing their ally being assassinated right before their eyes.

Tsunade plunged the blade deeper until the hilt of the blade was pressed firmly against Orochimaru's chest. Blood, warm and wet, trickled onto her hand, but Tsunade paid it no heed and instead focused on the one task at hand: killing Orochimaru. She had pierced his heart. It was amazing that any man, ninja or no, could still be standing after that.

"Not so afraid of blood anymore?" Orochimaru grunted around a mouthful of blood. He looked at the blade protruding from his chest and coughed. Trails of crimson seeped between his lips, dripping on the ground into a puddle around his and Tsunade's feet. "Are we Tsunade?"

"Not yours, Orochimaru." Tsunade hissed. "Not yours."

She twisted the blade, and a sick, echoing _crunch _was heard as her sword tore through whatever vital cartilage or muscle that the first blow had missed. Orochimaru grunted, his eyes beginning to glaze over as death beckoned, and when Tsunade smoothly withdrew the sword, his lifeless corpse toppled over onto the ground.

For a long moment, no one said anything. The dignitaries were fixated on Orochimaru's dead body, both unable to believe the outrage they had just witnessed. Their mouths were agape in shock, and their eyes were wide with horror as they stared at the unmoving form of the man they had placed their faith in.

"Th-this is blaspheme! This is madness!" yelled the Rock ambassador. "N-no one has ever murdered a dignitary under a flag of truce! We came here in peace!"

"Madness?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow. She tossed her guardsmen his sword back, and stepped over Orochimaru's body towards the ambassadors. The dignitary flinched away from Tsunade, his face contorting in disgust as the reek of the gore that coated Tsunade's hands assaulted him. She shoved her hands in the man's face, letting Orochimaru's blood drip before his eyes.

"Peace?" she snarled. "You come to my doorstep bearing with you the mortal enemy of every man, woman, and child in Konoha, and you claim you came in peace?"

"Our intentions were innocent," protested the Wind ambassador.

"Don't waste my time with your lies," snapped Tsunade. "You know Orochimaru's crimes, and yet, instead of doing what a _true _ally would have done and turn him over to Konoha, you chose to ally yourselves with that murderer and traitor."

The dignitary from Wind looked stunned. "You would risk war that would cost the lives of hundreds of thousands over one man who had wronged you in the past? You would jeopardize the future of Konoha for the sake of one criminal?"

Tsunade nodded. "Clearly you have underestimated the resolve of Konoha."

The ambassadors looked at Orochimaru one last time and then signaled to their bodyguards to depart. The escorts saluted smartly, and filed into in front and behind the dignitaries, shielding them from any possible harm. Tsunade gestured to her men, and one of the ANBU opened the door to her office.

Just as they were about to leave, the ambassador from Rock stopped in the doorway and looked back at Tsunade. "This trespass," he warned severely. "will not be forgotten."

"Good." Tsunade replied. "Go back to your leaders and tell them this. Tell them that as long as you call yourself a friend of any enemy of Konoha, then the sons and daughters of the Hidden Village of Leaf will _never _be your ally."

The doors to the Hokage's office closed, and even once Tsunade knew the dignitaries would not return, she could not allow dropping her forced composure. Not yet. Not while her instructors and ANBU elite were there to see the weakness of their leader. It was deadly to expose a weakness to an enemy, but it was even more crippling to let your men think that their leader was anything but invincible. She exhaled deeply and returned to her desk, trying her best to block out the incredulous stares from the rest of the ninja in her office. They were too well disciplined to speak before the Hokage permitted them to, but Tsunade could tell they were dying to object to what she had just done.

Hell, _anyone _in their right mind would be dying to object to what she had just done.

"Instructor Shizune, please pass the word that I am requesting a meeting with the council." Tsunade ordered casually, acting as if she had not just finished murdering a man in cold blood only seconds ago. "Instructors Asuma and Kurenai, return to your students and make sure the school is running as normal. The rest of you, please, return to your duties."

That was the last thing any of the ninja wanted to hear, but, nonetheless, they complied with the obedience expected of a Konoha Shinobi. Reluctantly, they turned and left the office, each pausing to glance at Orochimaru's dead body before carefully stepping over the pool of blood that was soaking into the floorboards. Shizune was the last to leave, and she gave the Hokage a pained look of disapproval, and then closed the heavy wooden doors closed behind her.

"So what now?" Jiraiya wondered simply. "Orochimaru will not linger. By now, he's already set into action phase two of whatever he's planning."

Tsunade rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "War is inevitable. Orochimaru put us in a position he knew we could not back out of. Accept the façade of alliance and expose our weakness. Refuse it and we would have war."

"And so you killed Orochimaru's clone just to expedite matters?"

She nodded and glanced at the dead form on the floor. Already it was beginning to lose its definition as it slowly melted away into a puddle of blood. All along, the man the ambassadors believed to be Orochimaru was nothing more than a puppet of flesh and blood, a construct that Tsunade knew Orochimaru was more than capable of. The real Orochimaru was probably nowhere near Konoha lest Tsunade actually decide to break the rules of negotiation and have him killed.

Orochimaru was indeed every bit the manipulative, cunning snake.

"The result would be the same. Had I not killed the clone, Orochimaru would have done something else to make sure Konoha went to war with Rock and Wind. At the very least, the meeting ended on my terms and not his."

"So we prepare for war?"

"We convene the council first," Tsunade corrected. "And if our ancestor's fighting spirit, courage, and honor has not completely forsaken Konoha, then yes, we will go to war."

"Many of the villagers will want to see you hanged." Jiraiya pointed out. He did not bother to sugar coat it. The villagers would be outraged that the Hokage had put the entire country on a path of war without prior consultation. Tsunade knew this, and the fact that she had gone ahead just proved little their opinion meant to her.

She shrugged, feeling suddenly very weary. She had just committed her country to war, and at the same time, sealed the fate of hundreds, no _thousands, _of Konoha's children. Short of a miracle, many would die before peace was made again. But that was a small price to pay for the preservation of their home. Orochimaru once again threatened the freedom of Konoha, and once again, Tsunade would do everything in her power to stop her nemesis. And if war was the only solution, then so be it.

"Then I'll give them one more reason to hang me." Tsunade replied.

"What would that be?"

Tsunade rose from her desk and made her way to the door. Jiraiya followed. "Let's go see Naruto." She said.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Finished! Finally! Sorry again it took forever to get done, and I am afraid updates will only get slower in the next coming months. Work, exams, etc. all that good stuff is being compounded with the time consuming task of moving out of my apartment and finding a new one –no easy goal, but a necessary one.

This chapter was a bit slower, but it's pretty important plot wise, so if you happened to skim over it, be sure to read it. Expect more good stuff in the next few chapters! Oh, and I just found out Slug beats Snake which beats Toad. Too late, and I'm way too tired to go back and edit out an entire scene. Forgive me! Oh, and liberal inspiration from 300? What? No idea what you're talking about.

Thanks again for reading! Make sure you drop a review! Comments, suggestions, criticism? I've had some terrific feedback from you guys! I appreciate it a ton!


	35. Chapter 35

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: If there was one copyright notice per chapter…there'd be…how many?

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty Five: Heart and Mind**

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in concentration as he surveyed the black and white chess pieces scattered across the board. His hand shifted from one of his pieces, then to the other, then to the next, unwilling to commit to a move no matter how strategically sound his brain told him it was. He could move his pawn to cover the advance of his rook, or move the knight and sacrifice his bishop in order to gain a run at the enemy queen. He bit his lip and removed his hand away from the game board. There were literally a thousand moves available at his fingertip, and while a handful of them may be smart or even brilliant moves, only one was the right move to make.

"Shikamaru," Instructor Asuma yawned. "Any day now would be perfect."

Shikamaru ignored his teacher and looked at his army of pieces again. He would not let himself be baited into making a stupid move, especially since he was not entirely confident that he fully understood the subtleties of this new game Asuma had introduced earlier that day. Chess, he had called it, and while it was similar to their normal game of Shogi, it was also vastly different enough to force him to relearn his old strategies, and develop new ones on the fly. It was an exhilarating experience truth be told –not that his common lethargic approach to it was any indication.

Finally, Shikamaru moved one of his pieces and sat back with a smug smile. That is, until Asuma made his move and knocked one of Shikamaru pieces off the board. A frown replaced his smile, and peeved, the Konoha strategist leaned closer to the board to get a better look at his mistake.

"You might have mastered Shogi," Asuma said, grinning around the cigarette dangling between his lips. "But Chess is a vastly different game I'm afraid."

_That's what you think, _Shikamaru thought. Out loud, he only grunted. Better to lull his opponent in a false sense of security where they might make a mistake he could capitalize on.

The two Konoha ninja sat at a stone park bench under the shade of Konoha's expansive trees. It was their normal meeting place for games of strategy where the two had battled wit and tactics for the last eight years or so. Every third Friday was the rule, and each time the loser would have to buy the winner dinner. Shikamaru was proud to say he had not had to buy Asuma dinner in over two years now, much to his teacher's constant frustration.

_And I'm not about to start now. _Shikamaru made his move. "Check." He declared.

Asuma made his move and then said, "So…what's this I hear about you and Ino?"

Shikamaru glared at his instructor. "Boy, word does sure travel fast."

The Jounin chuckled. "I have my sources. And from what I hear, _she _was the one who ended up asking _you _to the dance,and it was you who ended up agreeing."

"She caught me off guard!" Shikamaru protested. "What was I supposed to say? No?"

Actually, come to think of it, saying "no" would have probably been the smartest thing he could have done, a lot smarter than say, resigning himself to an entire night of Ino's incessant whining and bitching. It was a shame that the brilliance he was renown for had chosen that one inopportune time to completely abandon him.

Asuma just smirked, and Shikamaru, glaring at his instructor, returned his attention to the chess pieces.

"So who're _you _going to the dance with?" Shikamaru asked suddenly.

"I'm not going with _anyone_," corrected Asuma without missing a beat. "I am merely going to be a chaperone to ensure all you kids behave."

"Right," snorted the young tactician. He moved one of his pieces, capturing one of Asuma's and removing it from the game board.

They played for another few minutes in silence, silently doing battle with their pieces. The fight was fierce with both sides losing many pieces, but steadily it seemed like Asuma's army was gaining the upper hand as Shikamaru's pieces were decimated after one tactical blunders after another. However, Shikamaru did not seem overly bothered by his excessive losses, and Asuma was smart enough not to let his apparent victory cause him to grow overconfident. He knew Shikamaru all too well to fall for such a simple trick like that.

"Did you hear the news about Naruto?" Asuma asked suddenly.

Shikamaru nodded. "It was announced this morning to the rest of the class." He did not need to say the news about Naruto was not really news at all. Most of what had been related to the public was what Shikamaru already knew from their fracas at the café weeks earlier. The reaction was as expected. Horror for the most part, surprise, anger–the normal outburst of irrational emotion that the Hokage had feared, but anticipated –marked the public's response to the news. It would not be long before the riots started, Shikamaru predicted grimly.

"They're releasing him soon," The Jounin said. He glanced at his watch. "Any time now, actually."

"Oh?" Shikamaru said.

"It'd be nice if someone was there to greet him. I'm sure he doesn't have a lot of friends right about now given what just happened."

In other words, _stop playing chess and go see him. _Shikamaru frowned, content to feign ignorance. "I'm sure someone will be there."

"Really?"

No, not really. But Shikamaru could not bring himself to say it, and so instead concentrated on his remaining pieces even though he had decided his next move long ago.

Asuma frowned at his pupil. "Shikamaru, what's keeping you from doing the right thing?"

The young tactician bit his lip and stared at his chess pieces, unable to look the instructor in the eyes. The truth was that he was scared. It was not the Kyubi or Naruto that frightened him –he was a Konoha ninja after all and expected to deal with things like that –but everyone else. The public, populace Shikamaru had sworn to protect, the normal people that he was convinced privately hated the ninja and everything they stood for –they were the people Shikamaru was afraid of him. To stand beside Naruto, to stand beside a friend in need, would be to bear the brunt of a hate so intense and great that it unnerved the Nara-clan Shinobi.

Shikamaru had never been hated before. It seemed like a poor time to change that. First and foremost, the strategist prided himself for his ability to use his head before his heart, to make rational decisions instead of letting his emotions control him. It was a mistake to release the Kyubi, not when it was still so volatile and dangerous. He should be there with the others protesting or better yet, stand on the side in complicit silence.

So if he was doing the logically sound thing, why did he feel so miserable?

"I'm not scared." Shikamaru said. Who this statement was directed at, Asuma or himself, he did not know. By the look on his instructor's face, and the queasy feeling in his stomach, he had failed to convince neither. "I'm not."

"I never said you were." Asuma replied softly.

"I'm not!" shouted Shikamaru angrily. "I'm not afraid!"

_Oh but you are, _taunted the voice inside Shikamaru's head. _You can stand to-toe-toe against demons and renegade ninjas, but when it comes to being disliked, suddenly you're a coward. A coward! _

There would be hundreds, no, thousands of protestors screaming for Naruto's blood. He was a constant reminder of the pain and suffering that Konoha had suffered; the meaningless deaths of it had had to endure at the expense of the demon residing within the poor boy's soul. He had killed the Yondaime, he had orphaned the children of Konoha, and he had slain its sons and daughters with such cruel and reckless abandon. They hated Naruto, and they would hate anyone who stood beside him and embraced him as their own.

The peace between the Shinobi and the villagers had always been a fragile one, a bond of necessity more than anything. The villagers funded the Shinobi's existence, and in return, the ninja of Konoha protected the villager against its enemies. But what would happen when the villagers decided it was their protectors that were the true threat?

"Sometimes doing the right thing," Asuma remarked. "Does not need to make sense."

The mind versus the heart. Making the smart decision and making the right decision. There were a thousand good moves one could make, but only one was the perfect move.

Shikamaru abruptly stood up from the stone table he and his instructor were playing on. "Thank you, Instructor. I think I know what I need to do now."

Asuma smiled. "Good boy. We'll finish this match up later."

The young tactician smirked. "No need. I already won anyway."

"Huh? What-" Asuma started, but Shikamaru was already strolling away. Grunting, the Jounin inspected the game board skeptically. He raised an eyebrow and grinned reluctantly. Sure enough, Shikamaru had managed to not only learn a new game, but master it faster than his teacher.

"Cocky bastard."

* * *

"Wait a second," Naruto said. "What did you say again?"

He stared dumbfounded at the ANBU guardsman, his ears unable to believe what his captor had just said. Once, twice, three times he glanced at the ajar prison door, wondering if this was some sort of cruel trick, or worst, a dream that he would awaken from the moment he stepped foot outside his cell.

"I said get out." The guard said tonelessly. "You're free to go."

He knew it was stupid to look a gift horse in the mouth, that he should just shut up and get the hell out of there like the guard was telling him to without question, but he couldn't. He had just spent the last several weeks of his life in jail, training his ass off to contain a demon that was a national, if not global threat. He had been isolated from his friends and forced to abandon any pretense of hope; he would not walk away without some sort of explanation. Naruto, or more, the Kyubi, was no less dangerous than he had been the day before, so why now was he being released?

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Hokage's orders." The guard replied. "Now get out before I throw you out."

"That's it?" growled Naruto. "I'm no longer a threat? I'm perfectly under control?"

The guard said nothing. He pointed to the door, his meaning quite clear.

"Where's Instructor Kakashi?" Naruto demanded. "Let me talk to him."

"Kid, get out, _now." _

"Don't you know what I am?" Naruto yelled. "I have a god damn demon inside me that could kill everyone in this village and you're telling me it's suddenly alright for me to go outside?"

"I'm not telling you anything. I'm just telling you to go!"

"Damn it! Just let me talk to someone!" shouted Naruto.

"I thought you wanted to get out of here," the guard sneered.

Naruto hesitated. It was true he wanted more than anything to get out of this cell, but at the same time, Kakashi had helped him realize just how dangerous his predicament was. There was no denying the menacing potential of the demon lurking within Naruto's soul, and the thought of accidentally unleashing it once again was terrifying. On one hand he wanted to bolt out the door now, but on the other, he was afraid to leave and open the possibility of reentering society unable to contain the raging force boiling inside him.

_Am I ready? _Naruto wondered. Instructor Kakashi did not seem to think so. He clenched his fists tightly by his side, his indecision giving way to agitation. He was ready…or was he? A Shinobi should know themselves better than anyone else; they should know what they were and were not capable of, and Naruto wanted to believe this was indeed the case. But Kakashi's disagreeing opinion made him hesitate. Kakashi was almost never wrong; it was his infallibility that made him one of the most respected ninjas in the village. But could he be wrong, perhaps just this once, about Naruto?

_It wouldn't be the first time he's underestimated me, _Naruto mused with a scowl. Everyone always did. The Hokage, Instructor Kakashi, his peers –all of them thought he was talent-less, clumsy, and useless. Too stupid to achieve anything in school, too lazy to ever get anywhere in life, too weak to fight the demon that poisoned his body –to them he was just another nuisance. _They're wrong, though. _

The bitter thought left him angry and in no mood to stop and rethink his position. His apprehension gave way to irritation; whatever lingering anxieties surrendering to the swelling contempt and resentment in his heart.

The world toyed with him, telling him what to do and when to do it, and Naruto was sick of it all. They threw him in jail, told him he was a menace to society, and then at a whim tossed him back out without apology or explanation.

And how would people embrace him? Surely by now everyone knew that the Kyubi had reawakened inside him. He already knew Hinata didn't want to see him anymore, but how would the villagers react? In all likelihood they would try to lynch him the moment he stepped outside, the mere sight of him enough to instigate a riot. Perhaps _that _was the reason why he was being released. So the people of Konoha could do what the leadership was too afraid to do.

Well to hell with them.

Naruto stormed past the guard, obnoxiously shoulder checking the guardsmen as he brushed past. The ANBU guard glared at him, but Naruto could care less. He extended his hand towards the guard and deliberately flipped him off. Without waiting to see how the Jounin elite responded, Naruto marched off in the opposite direction.

To hell with them all.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Naruto, sitting in front of one of the prison's security monitors, the Hokage watched her student. The boy was furious. Though the monitors were not equipped with audio and the Hokage could not hear what the boy said, the anger was etched into his face. Every movement he made displayed the righteous anger boiling inside him, and Tsunade could only watch and silently weep for her student. Her heart ached for the poor child whose life was marked time and time again by tragedy, and despite her best efforts, more sadness and pain would continue to plague Naruto's life. In fact, this would be only the beginning. By now, everyone including the villagers knew about the Kyubi, and the years of hatred and resentment that Naruto had endured as a child would come to pass once again. When it came to the naivety and fearfulness of the ignorant masses, the probability of history repeating itself now was almost inevitable.

By setting Naruto free, Tsunade put herself at great risk. She knew the council would not stand for it. As it was, they would be furious that she had left them in the dark about the Kyubi situation for so long, but when they discovered she had released Naruto, there was no telling what they would do. An outcry for resignation was more than probable, which all things considered, suited Tsunade fine. At times like these, when she was forced to make hard decisions that ended up hurting innocent people like Naruto, she wished she had never become Hokage.

In her mind she knew she was making the wrong decision. By releasing Naruto, she risked endangering everyone. But in her heart, never in a million years could she justify imprisoning a boy who's only mistake was to be born. Naruto was a special person –anyone could see that –but whether or not he would become a ninja worthy of the sacrifice the Yondaime had made, or Konoha's greatest tragedy, time would only tell.

How would history remember her? As the woman who unleashed the potential of the Yondaime's legacy? Or as the woman who condemned the village to destruction? Again, only time could answer these questions.

And what more, on top of the guilt and insecurities, Tsunade felt like a coward. She had the courage to plunge Konoha into war and stab a man to death in her office, but when it came down to it, she was too ashamed to speak with Naruto. She had hoped Kakashi would have gone on her behalf, but the Jounin had been so infuriated by her decision to release Naruto that he had refused to have any part in it.

"He's not ready," Kakashi had said simply when Tsunade conversed with him earlier.

She sighed softly. Kakashi was probably right –the man was seldom wrong. But this was one case that Tsunade was willing to risk it. It was a massive gamble, and despite Tsunade's horrendous track record with luck, she was confident she had made the right decision. It was Naruto's life, and it was not her place or anyone else's, to deny him the right to live it.

"Hokage," Shizune called from behind Tsunade. "The council is ready to meet with you."

Tsunade nodded. "Thank you, Shizune. Tell them I'll be along directly."

However, Shizune did not leave. Instead, she stood there and looked at her Hokage.

"Is there something on your mind, Shizune?" she asked.

"Yes, Hokage. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Tsunade smiled, exuding confidence that she did not feel. "Have faith in me."

_Faith._

"Always, Hokage." Shizune replied. "I've always trusted you, Tsunade, and I always will."

Deep inside, Tsunade wondered how much of that was true. It was true Shizune had been loyal to her for almost twenty years now, but after the events of the last few days, Tsunade wondered how much Shizune still had faith in her, not only as her leader and Hokage, but as her friend. It was the same question Tsunade asked about the rest of her instructors, and all that ninja in the village for that matter.

"Do you?"

"You've never steered the village wrong before." Shizune said. "And I do not believe you will start now."

There was sincerity to Shizune's words, a fact that comforted Tsunade, but with it came another wave of guilt for having doubted one of her closest friends. The two ninja had gone through much, both before Tsunade had been elected as Hokage, and after. Of course Shizune trusted her, and though she was only one person, Tsunade realized that it was her opinion that truly mattered to her.

She looked at Shizune with a smile, and this time, the smile was genuine. "Come on." Tsunade passed her and, without looking back, knew her most faithful friend was only a step behind as they set down the corridor. "We have work to do."

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Wow, I have some massive apologizing to do. Not only is this chapter almost two months later, but it's also poorly scripted, poorly edited, and not half as long as I wanted it to be. But it is done. Sort of. Next chapter will be better. Promise. Or did I promise that last chapter? Damn!

Moved my apartment and finished my college finals, so I'm pretty much free this summer aside from work, World of Warcraft, and Halo 3. So yeah, not very free at all. But I'm definitely going to keep writing!

Again, I'm terribly sorry about making you wait so long for this installment. I promise the next one won't take two months to write.

Thanks again guys! You're the greatest.


	36. Chapter 36

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: If there was one copyright notice per chapter…there'd be…how many?

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Thirty Five: Friends**

Naruto frowned as he looked at the building which, two weeks ago, had been his apartment. It really was not much of a building anymore –Naruto's detractors had seen to that. What once had been a simple, brick structure that served as low income housing for poor students like himself, was now a dilapidated husk that had been coated with graffiti of the most obscene and insulting nature. Words like "demon" and "we'll kill you" jumped out at Naruto in its entire bright neon splendor, and he thought the shattered windows and broken door doors complimented the new paintjob quite nicely. Someone had gone ahead and hung a "condemned" on the doorknob of Naruto's apartment door –probably the only intact part of it. The rest had been savagely assaulted with what looked like an ax and a baseball bat.

He was not all that surprised. After all, what were the town people supposed to do with all their pent up hate and aggression? He had been escorted away from the prison in a military convoy, whisked away to safety from the mob of protestors that had been waiting for Naruto outside the jail. While Naruto was being signing paperwork that once again made him a free citizen of Konoha, apparently the mob had returned to the city and sacked his apartment. It probably was not as satisfying as actually lynching him, but apparently the crowd still had a good time of it all the same.

Naruto kicked down the fragmented remains of his door and walked into what used to be his house. Someone had taken the opportunity to graffiti the inside too.

_Watch your back, kid!_

_This time we'll seal you away for good!_

The messages continued, all similar in content, creating the colorful mural of hate that adorned his walls.

Whatever few furnishings he had had either been hacked to shreds or set on fire. The acrid stench of burnt embers still lingered in the air. Whether or not the mob had messed with Naruto's belongings the young ninja could not really tell. He kept the place in such disarray most of the time that it really looked more or less the same. Dirty laundry, intermixed with piles of papers, magazines, and empty ramen cups, littered the floor. In fact, the only addition to the mess was the shattered glass on the ground from the broken windows.

Naruto sighed and started digging through the mess. Few of his possessions he honestly cared about and the only thing of valued he owned was some of his gear. He grabbed a nearby rucksack, opened it, and started tossing his things into it. A fresh set of clothes, some scrolls, equipment pack, canteen, first aid gear –only the essentials he bothered to pack. The rest was just junk that the mob had saved him the trouble of eventually sorting through and throwing out.

He shouldered his backpack. The only thing he was honestly missing was his forehead protector. After he had transformed into the Kyubi, he was not sure where it had gone. Later on, he would have to try and get a replacement, assuming the academy was even willing to let him go back to school after missing virtually all his final exams. Assuming that any of them wanted him back at all.

It was a question he had pondered before, and he still had yet to arrive to an answer. The villagers had made their opinion pretty clear, but when it came to the ninja, Naruto was uncertain. He was pretty sure the Hokage and Instructor Kakashi supported him still, but they were only two people. For all he knew, everyone else might be just like Hiashi Hyuga, all too willing to throw him into the ravenous jaws of the villagers.

He took one last look at his apartment. It had served him well for the last several years and it was a shame to leave it behind under these circumstances. It deserved better. He turned and was about ready to leave, when he noticed someone standing framed in his doorway. Naruto instinctively grabbed his kunai, prepared to fight whatever enraged protestor had returned to make good on their threats, but he stopped when he recognized who it was at his door.

"I thought you would come back here," Sakura said softly.

Naruto relaxed, but only slightly. He was not sure if he should be more suspicious, or less at the sight of his friend. "Well it is my home. Well, _was, _anyway. I'm not sure I'm a huge fan of its make over."

She chuckled grimly as she looked upon the graffiti emblazoned on the walls. Then, Sakura noticed the backpack on Naruto's shoulder. "Where're you going?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'm sure I can find a forest or a temple I can stay for a few days. I figure I would keep moving. Keep a low profile for a way."

Sakura nodded as if she understood, but the way she was biting her lip and staring down at her feet clearly told Naruto she had something else in mind. "So…" she said, clearly stalling for time as she summoned the courage to do whatever she was mentally struggling over.

"So…" Naruto humored.

"Are you doing alright?" she asked awkwardly. "I mean, of course I know you are, or aren't seeing as that you've just been in jail, but then you are-"

"Sakura," he said. "I'm fine."

She smiled a sad sort of smile that lacked any semblance of any real happiness. Seeing it made Naruto smile too. There was nothing enjoyable about standing amidst the ruins of his apartment, but with Sakura with him, smiling that sad smile of hers, at the very least it was bearable.

"I didn't think anyone would come see me," Naruto admitted." I thought everyone would have chosen to forget about me."

"Forget about you?" Sakura laughed "I don't think anyone is going to forget Konoha High's number one trouble maker and overall jerk."

Naruto wanted to laugh with Sakura, but he couldn't. Despite Sakura's reassurance, he could not help but notice the empty courtyard beyond his apartment door. A void that should have been full of his friends, all coming to welcome him back home. Of all his friends, only Sakura was brave enough to show up. Of all his friends, Sakura was the only one who cared. The absence of the rest his friends confirmed Naruto's fears. Things had changed between them. And perhaps they would never return to the way they were.

"So then where are they?" he demanded bitterly, casting an arm at the void behind them. "Where are my _friends."_

Sakura walked across the apartment and sat down on the sofa. Or at least what used to be the sofa until someone had taken a knife to it and shredded it into a mess of ripped cloth and cheap padding. Still, it served the purpose and Sakura reclined her head on the arm rest and patted the spot next to her. Naruto obliged, set down his backpack on the floor, and dropped down beside his friend.

"Remember that time you, Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru stole Instructor Anko's exam in seventh grade?" she asked.

Naruto thought for a moment and then smiled begrudgingly. "Yeah, and we would've gotten away with it too if-"

"-If you hadn't ended up turning in your cheat sheet instead of your exam." Sakura finished.

The blonde Genin frowned. In his defense, he hadn't thought Instructor Anko would've noticed the difference. She had over sixty tests to grade after all, and it was common knowledge she only really looked at about half of those. The odds of Naruto's bogus test being noticed was next to none, and to this day, he _still _thought the only way he got caught was because Instructor Anko had long since cemented the idea that Naruto and good grades did not go hand in hand. If he ever achieved anything close to a passable grade on her exams, the only logical conclusion was that he cheated.

"So what's your point?"

"Well, remember what happened afterwards?"

Boy did he. Anko had sat him down in her private interrogation room and screamed at him, telling him she would expel him if he didn't confess to who helped him break into her office and steal the exam. That was how low of an opinion Anko had of Naruto. The troublesome young ninja was so inept at anything, whether it be academics or even mischief, he couldn't even manage to succeed without help.

"I didn't say anything." Naruto said proudly.

"Right," Sakura said. "You were a stand up guy, but weren't you disappointed that your friends didn't come to back you up?"

"Well, yeah, at first, but then they-"

"They showed up." She finished for Naruto. "They showed up and confessed even though it meant they might get expelled too. They knew they were going to get in a lot of trouble, but to them trouble, was better then abandoning their buddy."

Her hands wandered until they found Naruto's and enfolded them in a tight grip. Naruto looked at Sakura, and their eyes met. She squeezed Naruto's hand reassuringly and whispered, "Maybe that's where your friends are."

The anecdote of past memories could not assuage the feeling of abandonment, but the modicum of truth it pertained did instill a little hope in Naruto. And maybe that was what Sakura was trying to do. Maybe she knew that no one else was going to show up, and all she wanted to do was to make things appear a little less bleak for her friend, if only for a minute.

"You think so?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied. "Just give it time."

Naruto glanced outside. The sun was setting, gradually disappearing behind the great stone monument of the Hokage's. As much as he would have liked to stay there with Sakura for a little bit longer, he needed to find shelter before night had fallen. Konoha was normally a very safe town –the roaming patrols of Konoha's security forces saw to that –but Naruto was under no illusion that that blanket of protection applied to him. Not anymore. The police had turned a blind eye when the villagers had sacked his apartment; it only made sense that at least some of them bore similar, hostile sentiments towards him.

"I'd better get going," Naruto announced, sliding off the couch and grabbing his backpack.

"Y-you can stay at my house." Sakura said, quickly looking away so that Naruto could not see the magnificent shade of magenta that had flourished across her face.

"Huh?" Naruto exclaimed incredulously.

"You can stay at my place." She repeated. "We have a spare bedroom, and I'm sure my parents won't care."

"Uh…are you sure that…" he stammered nervously. "I mean, I w-wouldn't want to impose…"

Sakura glowered at Naruto and placed her hands on her hips impatiently. "Uzumaki Naruto, I just invited you to stay at my home. Do you want to sleep in a warm bed tonight, or would you rather spend your night in a cave?"

"That bed wouldn't happen to be yours, would it?" Naruto asked with a lecherous wink.

A deathly glare was his only answer, and Naruto was wise enough to shut up immediately.

"So, are you coming to my house or not?" Sakura demanded.

"Well…" Naruto answered, smiling slyly. "How can I refuse? Especially after you were so so insistent on making me come home with you."

Sakura felt a vein twitch in her arm as she suppressed the urge to slap Naruto for his perverseness. But, at the same time, it was good to see him slipping back into his old demeanor, no matter how juvenile and immature it might be. "Alright, fine, then let's go."

"Hey Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

Naruto grinned. "Thanks."

Again, Sakura was forced to look away so Naruto could not see her blush in embarrassment. It confused her, her feelings for Naruto. On one hand, he was everything about boys that she hated –he was crude, childish, and oblivious. But on the other, Sakura could not deny he had some redeeming qualities that she found appealing. He might not have the same raw badass factor as Sasuke, but where Sasuke was cold and emotionless, Naruto was always so sensitive. She stole a peek at him and blushed again.

_He's grown up…_

She shook her head, annoyed at herself for even entertaining the thought. It was Uzumaki Naruto for crying out loud.

"Ready?" Naruto asked.

Sakura nodded. "Ready."

Naruto walked to the door and pushed it open. "Ladies first."

She laughed and walked ahead of him. "Naruto, you're becoming quite the genle-" she stopped in the doorway, and her eyes widened in horror. "Oh shit." She gasped.

Naruto rushed to Sakura's side.

Amassed in front of his apartment was a crowd of dozens of villagers armed with an assortment of pitchforks, scythes, and blazing torches that illuminated the night. Some held signs that bore many of the same hateful messages that had been graffiti on his apartment wall, and they wove them high above their heads to ensure that Naruto saw them. There were so many of them, so many people screaming for his blood.

_Oh shit…_

He supposed in some grim, perverse way, he should be flattered. He supposed that he should feel honored that so many people had gone out of their way to make him feel so loathed and hated. He supposed that he should feel proud that the people of the village thought he, only a teenager on the cusps of adulthood, was worthy of such a display of grandiose anger and resentment. He supposed all these things, and yet, far from feeling proud or flattered or honored, there was nothing but a sickening churning in his stomach, and the acidic taste of bile rising in his throat.

"Hey demon! Eat this!" someone shouted.

A glass bottle smashed into the ground at Naruto's feet as a protestor hurled their enmity at the Kyubi container. Another one whizzed by overhead, shattering as it hit the prison wall behind Naruto. The third thrower, however, had better aim than the first two, and a small rock bounced off Naruto's forehead. It did not hurt a lot –ninjas could take a lot more pain than that –but nonetheless Naruto gingerly touched where the rock had struck him. His fingers came back slick with blood.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed in alarm.

"We're going to kill you, kid!"

Another rock soared through the air, and without thinking, Naruto pushed Sakura away from him and jumped to the side. The rock smashed into the ground where they had been standing a split second earlier, cracking the concrete and littering the floor with debris. For a second, he stared at it. It could have easily killed both him and Sakura. These people were insane, he realized, so deranged that they were willing to murder innocent teenagers to sate their bloodlust.

"We're going to kill you, kid!" a man in the mob shouted.

For a moment, their eyes met, and Naruto could only stare at the man in amazement. His eyes were bulging and bloodshot, and his mouth was frothing like some sort of rabid beast. There was no trace of humanity left in his face, no semblance of the decent, law abiding citizen he normally was. He had surrendered himself to his most innate, primal instincts, and by allowing his fear and anger shroud his judgment, had become an animal. Just like the rest of them.

_Who's the demon, now? _Naruto wondered.

_You could destroy them. _The Kyubi whispered in his ear. _You're a million times more powerful than these ants._

The seductive voice of the nine-tailed demon was so tempting, and for a moment, Naruto almost gave in. For an alarming second, he felt the murderous fire erupt in his veins as the Kyubi made a desperate attempt to wrest control away from Naruto's consciousness. But then a gentle hand touched his shoulder, a touch of such compassion and understanding that it quelled the flames of anger.

"Fight it, Naruto." Sakura whispered into his ear. "You're not a monster."

And then Naruto understood. As righteous as his anger was, to give in, to unleash the Kyubi just to teach these ignorant fools a lesson, would be to justify their hate for him. If he were to become that monster again, it would just prove that the villagers had been right all along.

"I'm not a monster," Naruto repeated. He tossed his knapsack on the ground and withdrew a kunai. He was not going to unleash the Kyubi on these fools, but he would be damned if he was going to go away quietly. He was no monster, but he was no quitter either –that was who he was, Uzumaki Naruto, and _this _was his way of the ninja.

"You want me?" Naruto challenged. Stepping protectively in front of Sakura, he brandished his weapon at the crowd. "Then come and get it!"

For a moment, Naruto thought for sure the crowd was going to rush forward and kill him. He gripped his kunai tighter in his hands, prepared to throw Sakura out of the way and meet the mob head on. But nothing happened. No one moved. The villagers in front wavered, glancing at one another uncertainly, reluctant, almost fearful to be the one to take the first step towards Naruto. The raucous chorus of death threats faded away, leaving only the soft chirping of crickets to fill the void.

"Naruto, you're always so dramatic," a bored sounding voice said.

"I know, seriously. You're a drama queen," said another voice.

Naruto turned around, and a huge smile spread across his face. Standing behind him, spread out in front of his apartment, was his friends. Shikamaru, Kira, Choji, Kiba and Akamaru, Ino, Neji, Tenten -even a few of his classmates he did not know that well were there. He spotted the quiet Sai standing nearby, the enigmatic Shino silently observing the crowd, even the obnoxiously boisterous Asuka had shown up, armed to the teeth with her bow and arrow.

"What? Going to forget about me?"

Sakura stifled a squeal of delight, and Naruto had to blink his eyes a few times to make sure they were not deceiving him. Uchiha Sasuke was also there, looking arrogant, and bored as if this was a complete was of his time, but present all the same.

He snorted when he saw Naruto's look of incredulous disbelief.

"What are _you _doing here?" Naruto demanded.

"Saving your ass by the look of it," Sasuke replied with a sneer.

"Naruto, shut up!" Sakura shouted, slapping the blonde haired ninja across the back of the head. "You should be thanking Sasuke."

"For what?" Naruto snapped.

"For helping us!"

"I don't need _his _help!"

"Yes we do!"

"Oh be quiet, you're only saying that because you're so happy _he's _here."

"No I'm not you idiot!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

Sasuke groaned.

Naruto laughed and grinned at his friends. Sakura had been right, but then again, she was always right. Even in his darkest hour, his friends had shown up to show their support. No matter what the stakes were, his friends had his back. And he would always have theirs.

But there one face that Naruto noticed was missing. Hinata was not there. Neji had come, but Hinata was nowhere to be seen. His momentary glow of happiness flickered for a moment. Hinata's father had been telling the truth. Hinata really didn't want to see him.

Sakura looked at Naruto and seemed to know what he was thinking. She prodded his arm and smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure she had a good reason."

Naruto shrugged indifferently, as if it was no big deal, trying his best to hide the heart wrenching sensation tearing at his chest. If Hinata did not want to see him, that was fine. There was nothing more he could do about it. Not now at least.

He turned to his friends. "You're late, guys."

"Psh," Shikamaru said. "You're lucky we even bothered to show up."

------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes:  
Sorry it's taken me forever to update a Ninja's Guide, but over the last few months I have kind of come to a point of indecisiveness about the future of the story. On one hand it has been a terrific experience, but on the other, I honestly can not feel like it is going anywhere. I feel like I have kind of backed myself into a corner as far as the plot progression goes, and one I can't escape unless I had a sort of magical rewind button that reset the plot to a point a little after the events of chapter five.

With that said, I wanted to thank all the fans of a Ninja's Guide. I apologize the last chapter is probably not up to my normal standards, and I also apologize the fic has to end on such an anti-climatic end. In all likelihood, a Ninja's Guide will not receive any additional updates. What is certain, however, is that another story will be on the way, perhaps in the vein of a Ninja's Guide, only….well….hopefully better.

Again, I want to thank all my loyal readers. You're what kept this story going, and I am sorry I have to bring it to an end.

If you've liked what you read, keep me in your alerts or favorites or whatever, or just keep me in mind because a new story will come (hopefully pretty soon) that will hopefully be even better than the adventure you've just finished.

Thanks guys. You're the best.

Sincerely,  
JAJapster


	37. Chapter 37

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Ninja's Guide is mine. Naruto isn't. Pickle surprise!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**  
Notice why a Ninja's Guide _**HASN'T **_been cancelled to follow chapter. This chapter is GUEST WRITTEN by Nick "Sparta's Ghost" Lee. Not me. You'll notice that his writing his a lot better than mine, which I assure you, it probably is. With that being said, enjoy and be sure to listen to me make stupid excuses at the chapter's end.

Chapter Thirty Seven: Unexpected Proposals

News that Naruto would return quickly got way through Konoha High, and it seemed to be the topic of the day in students' conversations, much to the dismay of one Hyuuga Hinata. By now she'd heard everything. She heard of how Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, Ino, Tentent, Neji and even Sasuke and many others had come to his aid the other night. Neji had told her of this, and he also told her there was still an undescribable amount of pain in the blonde ninja's heart, even if he was grateful they had all been there for him.

_Your absence caused his pain._

No, that was not what Neji told her, but he didn't need to say it. She really wanted to be there that night, but she also feared for both her and Naruto's safety from her father. Nobody but herself and Neji could understand what that man was fully capable of. Hinata cared for Naruto's safety much more than her own, and that was one of the reasons she did not end up going that night.

"_Coward"_ that annoying voice inside her head repeated. Hinata did not fight the voice. Deep down in her heart, she knew it was right. The ringing of the class bell didn't help to liven her spirits. She took a glance at the lonely hallway and with a sigh, she tried her best to shake it all off. She knew she was late for her next class, but it didn't matter to her. She had always been on time for classes, so what would one tardy be anyway? With a heavy sigh, Hinata continued to take slow, silent footsteps to her next class.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As the annoying glimmer of the sun came up, a beam of light caressed Naruto's face and prodded him to slowly open his eyes, glaring at the sun for its intrusion of his rest. Reluctantly, he rose to his feet and slowly got up of the bed he had been resting on. He groaned in pain as his heart felt like it was on fire. His back wasn't treating him much better either. To put words correctly, every bone in Uzumaki Naruto's body was in searing pain. Yes, the Kyuubi would always heal the wounds in time, but due to last night's beating he was sure it would take a while. Naruto sighed. It was always the Kyuubi.

The villagers' hatred seemed to add so much more pain than the original scars themselves. Yes, he had thankfully gotten away from last night's closest encounter of death thanks to his friends, but that still didn't mean he walked away unscathed. He had felt the blade of the scythe scrape his back many times through the rescue mission, and he also felt many rocks thrown at him. One of the most painful things of all was that amidst his friends, there was one missing. One of the most important people gone, almost as if she had already told him she thought of him just as the villagers did. As a demon. Not as Uzumaki Naruto, but as the murderous Kyuubi.

"You should thank me for even bothering to heal those wounds of yours." The demon fox grunted. 

Naruto ignored it, and would not talk to it for the rest of the day.

After a nice, long shower, he felt somewhat refreshed. His nose caught the aroma of food, and it followed him to the kitchen, where he saw two bowls of fried rice laid down. He looked at Sakura, who had a few stains of grease on her shirt, which meant that she had done all the cooking.

She gave him a sheepish smile.

"Mom and dad had to leave for work, and they let me stay home to take care of you. But we're both expected to go to school tomorrow."

Naruto opened his mouth to say thank you, but Sakura stopped him.

"Don't mention it. I know you would have done the same for any of us."

"I didn't know you cook," Naruto said, genuinely surprised.

"Mom was the one who taught me. It's something I enjoy doing in my free time. Hope you enjoy," she added with a smile.

Naruto gave her a smile, but Sakura knew something was missing from that normal huge and childish smile of his. She sighed to herself.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better than most people who just escaped from a brutal mob of villagers hungry for their blood," Naruto mumbled.

Sakura wanted to say something, but no words came to her mouth. The rest of their meal was eaten in silence, last night's conversation overplaying in her head.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_"Well?"_

_Sakura stared at Ino in annoyance, after they had all gotten Naruto safely to her home, the two girls were alone while Naruto and the guys were having a conversation of their own._

_"Well what?" Sakura asked in annoyance._

"_Ask him out!"_

_Sakura still looked confused._

_"Sasuke?"  
_

_Ino rolled her eyes._

_"I'm talking about Naruto."_

_"Naruto!?" Sakura said incredulously._

_"Naruto."_

_Sakura could always tell that by the tone of her voice, Ino was not joking around._

_  
"You're serious."_

_"Of course I'm serious. Sakura, if I didn't already ask Shikamaru, I would have immediately jumped on the chane to ask Naruto right now,"_

"_What's with the sudden change of heart?"_

_Sakura could see Ino's eyes glimmer with admiration, and she couldn't understand while a small feeling of jealousy was in her own heart as she spoke so fondly of a certain blonde ninja._

"_Do you know how much cooler he's become after tonight?"_

"_I'm still not following."  
_

"_Come on, forehead girl! The fact that he's been battling something like the Kyuubi all these years, much less even been able to confront it is incredible. Plus, the fact that he still holds no resentment to the villagers shows how strong his heart really is."  
_

"_Remember when you said he had no redeeming qualities, Ino-pig?"_

_"That was you, not me."_

_Sakura shut her mouth._

"_Think of it, I'm sure any girl after witnessing just a little bit of the amount of torture he's had to face with his whole life has come out of this situation in a whole new light, isn't that right, girls?"_

_Sakura and Ino weren't alone. They were also with the group of girls who had helped rescue Naruto. Some of them she knew fairly well, and others she didn't even know their names. But she couldn't deny that many of them were gorgeous and were also nodding their heads, with hearts in their eyes. Some were even a bit older and held a deep admiration for Naruto. She did have to admit that it had taken her a while to admit Naruto had many redeeming qualities. And after tonight, she saw him in a completely different light. Sure there was still Sasuke, but even she knew that there was no way he would ever swallow his pride and ask her to the winter dance, which was a few days ago. She knew Naruto was originally to be released days after the dance, but he ended up being released days before the winter dance. She still wondered if he had his heart set on asking Hinata, but maybe something called fear was holding herself back. Maybe fear of rejection was holding her back from asking. She really wanted to do it, but she was so confused now._

_"I-I'll think of it." _

"_Better come to a conclusion soon Sakura, 'cause there's millions of girls that would be dying to ask him out," came from the voice of Ayaka Yukihiro, who was one of the prettiest girls in their grade._

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sakura was still confused of her feelings for Naruto, because she always considered him to be her friend. She knew he had something going on with Hinata but still, she couldn't help herself…

She took a deep breath.

It was now or never.

"Ah… Naruto?" she asked, a shade of a beautiful crimson added to her face.

"Hm?"

"I was wondering… well…"

_Oh just ask him already!_

"Would you like to go to the dance with me?" she finally finished, trying her best to avoid Naruto's gaze.

_--------_  
Author's Notes:  
I'm not going to lie. I am flattered. Very much flattered. I think every author on this site thinks that their story is maybe read by one or two people who maybe read the last chapter, but never have any serious fans. I certainly did. You guys have proved me wrong. Some of you guys were pretty brutal on ripping me a new one for dropping the story so abruptly, but it was an ass kicking I sorely deserve.

I apologize for abandoning the story that people clearly want to be continued, and I can only hope none of you have decided to follow suit. Sparta's Ghost was enthusiastic enough about seeing a Ninja's Guide continue that he volunteered to take over the reins, and while I'm confident that he could do a spectacular job, I don't think I'm willing to turn it over quite yet. After reading this chapter, I'll let you guys decide if that's for better or worst. Be sure to PM him telling him how much you enjoyed chapter thirty seven though! It's loads better than what I'm writing at the moment. :P

In other news, I'm busy writing chapter thirty-eight which will be up within two weeks of chapter thirty seven hitting the interwebz, so be sure to keep an eye out for it. I kind of like the idea of doing guest writers. Sparta's Ghost has explored some different plot potentials that I did not before consider, and I am certain that some of you guys could do the same for Ninja's Guide. The story has always thrived on your inputs; I can only imagine how much better it could be if a few of you take an active part in it.

I'll be doing most of the writing still, but I would not be the least opposed to letting a few of you take a crack at it too. If interested, PM or email me with a lengthy writing sample demonstrating your mad skills.

Thanks again for your guys constant support. You have no idea how much it means to me, and how flattered I am by your guys faithful readership.

Yours,  
JAJapster


	38. Chapter 38

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Ninja Guide is mine but Naruto isn't. 'Fo rzzle.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

Chapter Thirty Eight: Suspicions

Tsunade had always been good at analyzing her student's faces, unearthing whatever subtle emotions they were feeling no matter how well they attempted to disguise them. As a young girl she always knew when her friends were sad, angry; she knew when they were hiding a secret about a crush on a boy or when they were lying to protect Tsunade's feelings. It was all about reactions and the glaring messages that even the most subliminal facial gestures gave off. Three years as an instructor at Konoha High, and then another two as headmaster of the academy had placed her in a plethora of situations which pitted her face to face with her students, and these years of experiencing dealing with chronic liars and sneaky cheaters helped hone these already innate abilities. She was so good, in fact, that she could give most of her specialized interrogators a run for their money.

For instance, right now, she knew Uchiha Sasuke was angry. Well, perhaps angry was not the right word. Resentful perhaps, though he hid it quite well. The way he held himself, standing relaxed in front of her large, wooden desk suggested nothing other than that he was politely indifferent to her presence. That was what he _wanted _people to think –that was he cold hearted Uchiha Sasuke, immune to emotions and uncaring about anything. But no matter how hard he tried, Tsunade could see the irritation broiling beneath those onyx eyes of his, as if this meeting with the Hokage of the entire village was boring him.

"I've spoken with your teachers, Sasuke." Tsunade said. "And though we frown upon your truancy, we also have taken into consideration your stellar academic performance as well as these recent incidents concerning Itachi…"

She had used Itachi's name on purpose, just to see if it elicited some sort of reaction in the younger man. Tsunade smiled. It did. For the barest fraction of a second, Sasuke looked furious, as if though Tsunade was invading on something private to him. It only lasted a moment; the next Sasuke looked as uninterested as normal, but Tsunade knew she had not imagined his brief anger.

"Conclusively, we're willing to excuse your extended absence from class, but only _if _you complete the work you missed as well as take your final exams on time." Tsunade finished.

Sasuke nodded stiffly and picked up the large pile of papers sitting on Tsunade's desk.

Tsunade eyed her pupil critically. Something had changed about Sasuke. He had always been a quiet, angry boy the day he walked through the doors of Konoha High shortly after his parent's murder, but now something was different. His meeting with Itachi played a significant part in it –it had unhinged the normally confident Sasuke –but there was something else that Tsunade could not pin point. Sasuke was hiding something from Tsunade, but that was the most the Hokage could discern.

_What do you not want to tell me? _Tsunade wondered. There was one thing she was certain of. Sasuke had not spent the last few weeks sitting in a dark corner pouting. He had some sort of agenda in mind, one which undoubtedly was related with his older brother, and subsequently incredibly dangerous, stupid, and warranted stopping as soon as Tsunade found out what it was.

"Is everything, OK?" Tsunade asked. "This isn't like you, Sasuke, to miss school."

Sasuke shrugged. "I've been busy."

"But not too busy to help Naruto last night." The Hokage observed shrewdly.

The Uchiha tried not to look surprised that the Hokage had known. Tsunade knew the kids had been careful to hide their tracks, and while their rescue of their loud mouthed comrade had managed to go unnoticed by local authorities, very little escaped Tsunade's attention. It was her job to know what every ninja in the village was up to, and Naruto was certainly high on her priority list of people to keep an eye on. The riot had gotten ugly last night, but it was something that the kids could take care of. Tsunade had been confident of that when she released Naruto, and last night had only confirmed how dedicated, talented, and loyal her students really were.

"I just happened to be passing by," Sasuke muttered.

"Right." Tsunade said simply with a smile. "That is all. You may be excused. I'll be expecting you back in class tomorrow morning."

"Thanks," Sasuke said. He turned and left the office, feeling the burrowing glare of the Hokage on his back as he walked to the door.

On the way out of the office, at the top of the winding stair steps leading back toward the rest of the academy, Sasuke ran into Neji. He nodded at the Hyuga with the intent of passing by and going about his way, but Neji did not move out of Sasuke's path.

"Excuse me," Sasuke growled irritably.

Neji looked at Sasuke, his pearl colored eyes unblinking as he studied Sasuke not unlike Tsunade had earlier in her office. Resting his hands on his hips, he said, "You may have the rest fooled, Sasuke, but I know better."

"What?" The Uchiha snarled.

Neji's serene expression did not change, regardless of the deathly glare Sasuke had directed at him. Calmly, he continued, "You may have Sakura thinking you're some kind of reformed saint, but I know you did not come to help Naruto out of selfless motives."

Sasuke snorted. "What's your deal, Neji? I've never had a problem with you."

Which was not really true at all. Everyone knew that the rivalry between Neji and Sasuke was no less intense than the antagonism Sasuke shared with Naruto. Even if they were two of the smartest, coolest, best looking, most talented boys in all of Konoha and automatically subject to comparison, Neji was a Hyuga and Sasuke was an Uchiha. Rival families with rival blood limits. The Sharingan versus the Byagukan –for generations their ancestors had longed to fight to claim clan and blood limit superiority. Sasuke and Neji were just the latest generation, and subsequently, had inherited the ancient rivalry between their two families.

They might be allies of Konoha, and they had even worked together in Kakami, but at heart, the rivalry would never die.

"But I have a problem with you," Neji said. "You're a liar, Uchiha Sasuke, and I think it's only fair that everyone should know that."

"I'm a liar?" asked Sasuke incredulously. "For helping you guys when I should have minded my own business, you arrogant asshole?"

"I know you did not help us out of the goodness of your heart or because you thought Naruto was a friend worth protecting," Neji replied, unfazed by Sasuke's anger. "That was why we were there, but not you."

"So why was I there then? Huh?"

"I'm not sure. Why don't you tell me?" Neji asked. "Why would the cold, unfeeling, friendless Uchiha Sasuke suddenly turn around and help a classmate?"

The long haired Hyuga tapped his chin thoughtfully. "To impress Sakura? Or was it to impress an _idea _on all of us? That you were no longer the pretentious asshole you've always been? What was it, Sasuke? An enlightening epiphany? An angel from heaven?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you, Neji."

Neji smiled. "You're scum, Sasuke."

Sasuke tossed the papers on the ground and clenched his fists together. "One more word out of you, Neji –"

Neji's smile never wavered, his icy, cold eyes never blinking. "Bring it, Sasuke. I'm not afraid of you."

Sasuke actually thought about throwing a punch right then and there. Both were equally talented in hand to hand martial arts as well as chakra based skills. Neji was faster and more precise, but Sasuke had the advantage of agility and foresight with his Sharingan. All things considered, both boys were evenly matched, not only in raw talent, but also in intellect. Fighting Hyuga Neji, even for a prodigy child like Sasuke, would not be an easy task and not one he would blindly walk into.

"Boys?" Tsunade said, peeking her head out of her office doors. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine." Sasuke said, picking up his scattered papers. He stormed past Neji, shoulder checking the Hyuga as he passed.

"One of these days we'll settle this," Sasuke snarled in Neji's ear.

"One of these days," Neji assured him. "I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Sasuke did not look back, but he was certain Neji and Tsunade were watching him as he descended down the stairs. At the bottom, he paused and looked up the spiraling staircase. Both were gone from sight. Only then, when he was certain that no one else was spying on him, did he slowly exhale and allow himself to relax.

It was rare for something to bother Sasuke; to allow anyone to agitate him or otherwise disturb his otherwise neutral personality was usually reserved solely for Itachi. But Neji's accusations annoyed him enough for him to scowl at the memory of the Hyuga accosting him minutes earlier. Sasuke had swallowed his pride and risked tarnishing his reputation by helping Sasuke, and now Neji was calling him a liar. But for what reason?

The simplest explanation was that Neji felt threatened. While he was gone, Sasuke imagined Neji had been making the most of his rival's absence by attempting to enlarge his sphere of influence over the school community, cementing himself firmly as Konoha High's number one pupil. That all changed, however, with Sasuke returning after his long absence, and maybe this was just Neji's way of telling Sasuke he was not happy about it. Not happy at all.

But no, that explanation was far too simple. As much as Sasuke was beginning to dislike Neji, he had to respect the other boy's many talents. Neji was too smart to resort to such aggressive behavior for such a trivial, immature reason as school popularity. In fact, Sasuke imagined Neji found the entire popularity contest as tiresome as he did. No, Neji had a genuine reason to be hostile towards Sasuke.

Neji had said he was going to keep an eye on Sasuke, but it was Sasuke who was going to have to keep an eye on Neji.

_What do you think you know, Neji? _Sasuke wondered.

* * *

Sasuke was still fuming when he arrived home at his estate. Angrily, he kicked open the front gate and stormed off into the towering, stone mansion that had housed the Uchiha clan for centuries.

Despite being the sole occupant, the large mansion was still in relatively good care; Sasuke had seen to that. Despite being incredibly busy between his training and school work, Sasuke had always made sure that he took the time to keep the Uchiha estate in good condition. He could have hired gardeners to maintain the estate's sprawling gardens or maids to clean the countless rooms in the Uchiha mansion; after all money was no issue for a boy who had inherited enough money to last him numerous lifetimes. However, Sasuke had always elected not to, and instead invested one day a week to dusting and tending to the garden. After all, the Uchiha estate was really the only part of his family that he still had. He had loved his mother and father, his uncles and aunts –all of whom had been murdered by Itachi –and he would honor them by keeping their home a place they would be proud to live.

Sasuke kicked off his shoes, ignoring the dirty snow that sprayed across the clean, wooden flooring, and plopped his papers down on the dining table. He looked about the expansive dining room, and sighed. It was at times like these did he realize just how very much alone he was. The Uchiha estate was designed to house the entire Uchiha clan –at least twelve families and their servants. It was far too large for only one person to live in. Sasuke seldom ever bothered to explore beyond the first floor, and spent whatever little time he was at home between his bedroom and living room.

It was quiet. Sasuke remembered as a child how Itachi and all his cousins had raced at dinner time to see who could secure a seat closest to the head of the table because everyone knew the head of the table was always served their meals first. Itachi had always won of course; even as a child he had been stronger and faster than even Sasuke's older cousins.

Sasuke had always tried to beat Itachi, but to no avail. He would purposely position himself as close to the dining room before dinner was called, but no matter how much planning he put into it, Itachi always managed to beat him.

"_How do you always manage to beat me, big brother?" Sasuke asked before dinner one night._

"_Because I'm faster than you." Itachi replied with a grin._

"_Then how about Toji? He's the fastest runner in the family." _

"_I'm stronger than he is," Said Itachi. _

"_Then how can you beat Madara?" wailed Sasuke. "He's the strongest of any of us!"_

"_That big lout?" laughed Itachi. He tapped his forehead. "I'm smarter than he is."_

_Sasuke frowned, unsatisfied by Itachi's answers. "It's not fair, big brother."_

_Itachi smiled and kneeled down in front of Sasuke. "One day, Sasuke, when you grow up, you'll be faster, stronger, maybe even smarter than me."_

"_Really?" Sasuke asked, surprised. Itachi was the most talented ninja the Uchiha family had ever seen, surpassing even the prodigious Madara that had only years ago been the Uchiha clan's golden child. Everyone said Itachi was destined for great things, but Itachi was saying he would be even better! _

"_Really." Itachi said. "I'll teach you." _

"_You're gonna teach me, big brother?" Sasuke looked at him shrewdly. "Promise?'_

_Itachi held out his index finger and gently poked Sasuke in the forehead. "I promise." _

They had sat down to dinner that night. Itachi of course was sitting at the head of the table, beside their father. Their father had always been so proud to see Itachi sitting there. He had never said it, but Sasuke could see the pride in his eyes when he looked upon his favorite son.

_You were always so proud of him, father. _Sasuke thought bitterly. Everyone was proud of Itachi. He was the one who was supposed to show all of Konoha that the Uchiha family was the most powerful clan in Fire Country, or at least stronger than their arch-rivals, the Hyugas. Instead, six months later, Itachi had murdered his entire clan and become the target of every ANBU agent in the entire country.

He sat down at the table, two seats away from the head of the table. Sasuke was the head of the Uchiha clan now, but he would never take the seat reserved for his father. And the seat beside the head of the table…that was Itachi's. Sasuke would not deserve to sit there until he had earned the right to do so. And the only way he would be able to do that would be to kill Itachi.

One day. Even it took him his entire life, one day he would have his revenge. For a father who ignored him, for a clan that overlooked him, for a mother who loved him not for being Itachi's little brother, but for being who he was, Uchiha Sasuke.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to return home," said a voice from behind him.

Involuntarily, Sasuke drew a kunai from his thigh holsters and whirled around. Standing behind him was a young man with white hair, clad in a purple tunic and pants. He looked at Sasuke curiously through large, round spectacles, analyzing him as if he was looking at a specimen under a microscope.

"Kabuto." Sasuke said, lowering his kunai. "Ever heard of using the door bell?'

Kabuto shrugged. "It's been a while since we've last talked. I trust you've given some thought to my offer?"

Sasuke frowned. "If I knew exactly what your offer was, then I might be inclined to give you an answer."

The white-haired medical ninja laughed. "It's like I told you –I know what you're up to, and I know you have no hope of accomplishing it on your own."

Sasuke glared at Kabuto. "And it's like I told you before, that's none of your business."

"I found you in the mountains two weeks ago; training and training for a battle you do not have a prayer of winning." Kabuto pointed out. "All I offer is my assistance."

"_You're _going to train _me?" _Sasuke snorted. "No offense. But if I wanted to learn how to perform open heart surgery, then I would accept your offer."

"I provide more than just medical expertise." Kabuto said.

"What? Some sort of potion? Gene enhancement technology?" Sasuke asked. "Sorry, but I've seen what happens when those things go bad. People end up dying, and incase I'm mistaken, superhuman enhancement experiments are punishable by death."

Kabuto sighed. "Sasuke, I thought you were smarter than that. Of course it isn't a potion or gene manipulation. I may be a man of science, Sasuke, so rest assured I am not a fool."

"Then I do not see what you can offer me," Sasuke said with an air of finality in his voice.

"I know people, Sasuke. Powerful people who would be glad to help you on your quest."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"There are people out there who have committed their life to discovering power," Kabuto explained. "Power greater than anyone, even you, even _Itachi, _can begin to imagine."

"And you've found such a man?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Indeed."

"Bullshit."

Kabuto smiled. "Many a fool has spent his life doubting the words of wise men. But, if you are content to living a life of complacent solitude," he waved his arm about the empty mansion. "Then so be it. Live content with the knowledge that you will always be inferior, not only to your brother, but also to your friend, Naruto."

"Shut up!" snarled Sasuke. "Don't say anything about Naruto!"

"Because it's true?" Kabuto taunted. "He is strong enough to defeat Itachi, but you, Sasuke, would not stand a chance."

"That's not true!"

"I can help you become more powerful, more powerful than even the demon powers Naruto controls. What do you have to lose by trusting me, Sasuke?" Kabuto asked.

Sasuke lowered Kabuto and stepped back, glaring at the medic suspiciously. As much as he hated to admit it, Kabuto was right. He was not going to become strong enough to kill Itachi on his own. He needed help. Kabuto was a renowned doctor around the village, loved by all; surely a man he could trust. There was very little to lose by trusting Kabuto; if worst came to worst, he could always walk away.

"What's in it for you, Kabuto?" Sasuke asked warily. "Why do you want to help me?"

"All will be explained in time, Sasuke." Kabuto said simply. "You can question me all you wish, and I guarantee you with your attitude of skepticism, I shall never convince you that my motives are pure and my intentions are only to help you. All I can ask you is for a little bit of faith."

Kabuto stepped behind Sasuke and gently placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Will you trust me, Sasuke?"

Sasuke did not answer right away, lost in his thoughts.

"_You really gonna teach me to be as strong as you, big brother?" Sasuke asked. _

"_Sure, Sasuke." Itachi replied. "One of these days, you'll be even better than me."_

"_Promise?"_

"_I promise."_

Slowly, Uchiha Sasuke turned around and looked at Kabuto in the eye. "Tell me more."

* * *

Author's Notes: 

And so I'm back! Glad to be back and writing again, and let me tell you, after reading the translations (or potential translations –don't know if they're real or not) of the next chapter of the Naruto manga, the story is starting to get interesting again, FINALLY. I'm sorry, but seeing one LONG battle after the other without any effort to flesh our characters just does not cut it for me. In it, we find out whether or Naruto is really the Yondaime's son, and more! It's great stuff!

And yes I purposely left last chapter's cliff hanger unresolved. 'Cause I'm evil that way. And I want you to come back and read NEXT chapter which might/might not resolve the cliff hanger.

Thanks again for your support guys. Hope I didn't lose too many of you. Be sure to review!


	39. Chapter 39

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Notice: Ninja Guide is mine but Naruto isn't. Oh, and the cake is a lie.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

It was a rare occasion that Uzumaki Naruto found himself at a loss for words; indeed, while far from the cleverest wit to be found in Konoha High, his renown for always having an answer, no matter how obnoxious or relevant it may be, was as notorious as his mischievousness. However, at the moment, this was clearly not the case.

**Chapter Thirty Nine: Date Proposals **

Naruto stared at Sakura dumbfounded, his ears barely willing to believe the words she had just spoken. He was pretty sure Sakura had just asked him out to the Christmas Dance, but the likelihood of that as of, oh, twenty-four hours ago, was viewed optimistically as non-existent. It was one of those facts about high school. Math class sucked, the food in the cafeteria was atrocious, and popular girls like Sakura did not go to the biggest dance of the year with the shunned and marginalized like Naruto. No matter what may have transpired between them this year, it was still high school, and the boundaries between Sakura's world and Naruto's were still very much concrete and impassable. Right?

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Naruto asked. "Did you just ask me out to the dance?"

Sakura flushed a brilliant shade of pink that easily matched the color of her hair. "Yes."

"Huh." Naruto said. He wanted to pinch himself somehow to make sure he wasn't dreaming. A scenario like this had happened in his dreams before, though, suffice to say, they were usually embellished substantially with Sakura being nude and bathing in a tub of hot, melted chocolate.

"Well…" she said, trying not to look so entirely cute and embarrassed and failing miserably, "What do you think?"

The obvious answer was yes, which was why Naruto found it odd he could not readily say it. It must be the shock, the surprise still paralyzing the muscles in his jaw. After all, he had been doggedly pursuing Sakura ever since second grade. It was kind of funny that way, really. Year after year, Sakura had turned him down, rejecting him kindly at first and then getting progressively more irritated and angry as Naruto's persistence increased, and now that the day had come where Sakura was now asking him, it was Naruto who was having difficulty simply saying "yes" and fulfilling his life long dreams.

"What about Sasuke?" Naruto asked skeptically. "I thought you were in love with him."

Sakura glared at the yellow haired shinobi. "Uzumaki Naruto –I just asked _you_to the most important function of our high school careers, and you're asking me why I'm not asking Sasuke to go with me?"

"No." Naruto quickly lied. "But I-"

"Then just shut up and say yes or no." she snapped irritably.

Naruto bit his lip. He really wanted to say yes, especially now since Sakura looked like she would punch him in the nose if he said anything but. However, there was something wrong about all of this; no matter how hard he tried, he could not evade the nagging skepticism that lurked in the back of his mind. It was a terrible feeling really, having such a low self-esteem that you could not figure out why a cute girl would want to date you.

And then of course there was the largely complicated and not entirely resolved matter of Hinata…

Hinata. By all rights, he should have long forgotten about her. She hated him now, and though her hatred was justified, it was hard to give up hope that she might forgive him, especially for someone as stupidly optimistic like Naruto.

"Sakura…" Naruto said.

"You're going to say no, aren't you?" Sakura sighed, disbelief evident on her pretty face.

"W-wait, I didn't say-"

"Then why aren't you saying yes?" she demanded.

"It's not that simple, Sakura. Please, let me explain." Naruto urged her, but Sakura was not having any of it. She rounded on the poor ninja, her hands firmly on her hips and her acrimonious intentions as evident as the scowl on her face.

"Is it because of Hinata?" Sakura glowered. "Please don't tell me you have a crush on her still."

"Sakura, please, just let me talk for a-"

"Because in case you didn't realize, I was there for you yesterday. She wasn't."

Naruto crossed his arms and looked sternly at Sakura. "I'm sure she had her reasons," he said.

"Yeah, it's because she's just like one of the villagers," Sakura said scathingly. "Afraid of you now that she knows the truth about who you really are. Naruto, _I'm_not afraid. Not of you, not of the Kyubi."

"Sakura, I almost killed her." Naruto tried to reason with her, but Sakura was not having any of it.

"So what?" she stormed dismissively. "I'm taking that chance of that right now, but I don't care. Unlike Hinata, I'm not afraid to take a risk."

"Sakura, I know you're not afraid of me. You're the bravest girl I know and a true friend, but-"

"But what?" the pink haired ninja asked. Naruto flinched inwardly. There was a pained look in her eyes, bewildered and offended as if he had abruptly slapped her in the face. "Give me a reason, Naruto."

Naruto bit his lip and turned away, not wanting Sakura to see the conflicted look on his face.

_Because I'm not that oblivious and I know you really aren't attracted to me? Because you're really in love with Sasuke, and you're merely settling for second best? _

Naruto wanted to kick himself for entertaining such a thought, but deep down inside, he knew it was true.

He tilted his head slightly, and out of the corner of his eye, peeked back at Sakura. She really was beautiful, and on top of that, he knew she was kind, compassionate, and a true friend –the prerequisites in a girl that every boy should look for. Only a complete idiot would pass up a shot with Haruno Sakura, one of the prettiest and most popular girls at Konoha High, but then again, Naruto had never been known for his overwhelming intellect.

Sakura was right of course. When all the chips were down, she had been there by his side when no one else had, willing to risk everything in the name of friendship. But Naruto could not fool himself into believing there was anything more than that between them. No matter how much he wanted to convince himself otherwise, Naruto knew there was a place in Sakura's heart for only one man, and he wasn't it.

_If you go out with me, _Naruto thought sadly. _You're going to start something between us, something both of us will end up regretting." _

"Well?" She demanded. "What's it going to be?"

Just then, the door bell rang. Naruto looked at Sakura imploringly. He did not dare leave her presence without permission, not when she looked like she was about ready to rip his throat out for his impudence. The door bell rang again, the melodious chime echoing in the tense silence between the two friends. This time, Sakura shrugged, and Naruto gladly interpreted that as a "fine, go answer the door."

Before Sakura could say differently, Naruto practically fled from the room. He was glad to get a second to himself, a much needed second to recover and regain his senses without Sakura's accusing glare making him guilty. As he slowly made his way to the door, taking more time than was necessary to traverse the short corridor, Naruto frantically thought of a way of this predicament. He supposed he could try and slip out the window, but that would probably piss off Sakura even more than if he flat out turned down her invitation to go to the dance. And pissing off Sakura was the last thing he wanted. Oh no, his goal was to escape from this tense stand off with Sakura's heart intact, and his head still on his shoulders.

Of course the chances of that were pretty bleak too. He was under no illusion that he would be able to reason with Sakura. The way he saw it, one of the reasons why Sakura was asking him to the dance was because she was certain he would say 'yes'. Saying anything but that would devastate her, and Naruto had no desire to hurt her feelings. At the same time, while agreeing might seem the like simple thing, he was smart enough to realize that even if this one date did end well, sooner or later both of them would just end up hurt. That was what happened when their affection was not genuine. Naruto had always loved Sakura, but he had since come to terms with the fact that she would never feel the same way.

Naruto sighed and opened the door.

His eyes widened in surprise when he saw who it was waiting outside.

"What the hell are _you_doing here?"

* * *

"So, what do you think of this one?" Ino asked, selecting a dress from the rack and holding it up for inspection. "Do you like it?"

Shikamaru yawned tried his best to suppress a yawn of utter boredom and dumbly nodded his head. "It looks great."

"Do you really think so?" She asked skeptically. She held the dress up against her and did a little twirl, eyeing her reflection critically in the clothing department's mirror. "I'm not sure purple is exactly my color…"

"What are you talking about, Ino. You _always_wear purple." Shikamaru pointed out.

"But that's only because my family's clan is affiliated with purple," she replied as she replaced the dress on the rack and selected another one. "Truthfully I've always preferred a light blue."

This news, of course, was absolutely _fascinating_to Shikamaru who was toying with the idea of grabbing a clothing hangar and stabbing himself in the eye with it. He did not know how Ino had managed to trick him into going dress shopping for the dance, but he was starting to seriously reconsider his intelligence because this had to be one of the _stupidest_things he had ever agreed to. They had been all over the village now, stopping in at every store and shopping mall, and had absolutely nothing to show for it. They had been at it for over four hours now, and during that time, the closest Ino had come to committing to a dress had been a dismissive, "Well I guess it looks nice…"

He wished she would just choose a damn dress already! Why did girls_always_insist on taking a relatively simple process of selecting one garment that they would wear for only one night of their entire lives and transforming it into a gruelingly long, complex lesson of pain and endurance? How troublesome!

"Guys have it so easy," she remarked as she leafed through the dresses.

Shikamaru had to agree with her on that one. He already had his tuxedo worked out. Or, more specifically, he was going to steal his father's.

"Well, what about this one?" Shikamaru reached into the rack of dresses and pulled out one. It was a simple purple, dress, modestly cut and lacking in any of ostentatious flashiness that most of the dresses Ino selected had. "I think it looks nice."

"Ew, Shikamaru. That looks like something my mother might wear." Ino replied, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "And again, it's purple."

Shikamaru sighed deeply. He didn't know why he even bothered.

"What about this one?" Ino asked, holding out another dress for Shikamaru's approval.

"It looks great." Shikamaru said, not really looking. He must have said the wrong thing, because a second later, Ino threw a hanger at his face "What was that for?" he yelled, dodging the projectile.

"I knew you weren't paying attention!" Ino shouted accusingly.

"What do you mean?" snapped Shikamaru. "I've been paying plenty of attention!"

"Shikamaru, look!"

Shikamaru groaned. In Ino's hands was a thong. Busted. "Well, if that's all you're planning on wearing to the dance, I'd probably recommend we go look for a matching bra then."

"You're such a smart ass," she snarled. "I ask you to do one simple thing, Shikamaru! One simple thing!"

"We've been at this for over four hours, Ino!" Shikamaru yelled back, letting his frustration spill out. "It was fun for the first, oh, ten minutes or so, but there's only so many dresses out there before they all start looking the same!"

"I just wanted your opinion!" said Ino.

"You wouldn't have taken it anyway!" Shikamaru retorted. "Everyone knows you're probably on planning on going shopping with your girlfriends tomorrow, and that's when you'll choose a dress."

Judging by the scowl on Ino's face, Shikamaru had gotten it exactly right.

"So what if I didn't get a dress today? I wanted a chance to spend some time with you and get to know you better." The blonde-haired ninja said. "Is that such a crime?"

"No, of course not, but do you think we can do something that isn't so boring?"

"Oh, so doing what I enjoy doing is boring to you?" Ino said, clearly offended.

Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed. Wrong thing to say _again._

"Well I suppose we can do something more mentally stimulating like look at clouds!" she said scathingly. "I suppose that's _a lot _of fun, right?"

"Look, look, I'm sorry." Shikamaru said.

It was time to apologize and hopefully placate the enraged tiger he had accidentally pissed off. If his father had taught him anything it was that girl's were absolutely bat shit crazy and would rip your throat out if you gave them an excuse. It was best to appease them and hope they didn't murder you. It was the only reason, his father had explained, why he had survived marriage thus far.

"I'll pay more attention. I promise."

"It's not just about you paying attention!" Ino yelled. "Don't you get it, Shikamaru?"

No, no he really didn't get it.

"Ino….I said I'm sorry."

"Shut up, Shikamaru! I don't want your apology! I want you to care!"

Shikamaru shot a concerned glance around the store. No one seemed to notice them despite their shouting. He guess stuff like this happened quite frequently.

"You want me to what?"

"I want you to pause and for two seconds actually pretend like you give a damn about me!"

He wanted to ask, "How?" but thank god he knew better than to be_that_stupid.

"Ino…"

"I'm your date to the dance!" Ino continued, not allowing Shikamaru a second chance to calm her down. "And I wanted to find out what you liked so I could look good for you! I cared that much! But obviously you don't care enough to give me _one_day of your time, Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru snorted scornfully. Enough was enough. "Don't even try to guilt trip me, Ino. We both know the only people you're worried about impressing is yourself and all your other friends."

"What are you talking abo-"

He was probably going to regret what he was about to say next, but what the hell.

"Face it, you don't even really want to go to the dance with me. Why should you care what I think?"

"Why would I ask you to the dance if I didn't want to go?" Ino demanded incredulously.

"C'mon, Ino, do you really think you asked me to go the dance because you suddenly decided I'm such a nice guy?" Shikamaru tapped his head. "Please, I think I'm a little smarter than that."

He rounded on her, leaning forward so his face was right next to hers. "What was it? A bet with Sakura? How much is she paying for a popular girl to go to the big dance with a loser like me? Or were you planning on standing me up and making me look like a giant fool?"

_Slap!  
_

Shikamaru winced as Ino's hand connected with his cheek. His head snapped back a bit, and he tasted blood inside his mouth. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought." He muttered.

"How dare you?" Ino snarled, her small form trembling with fury.

Shikamaru calmly returned her gaze. Normally, he would have been terrified of her when she was mad -there was something about being forced to choke yourself that he found particularly scary –but not today. He had thought something was amiss the moment Ino had asked him to the dance, but it wasn't until Ino had slapped him were his suspicions confirmed. If a ninja was _really_genuinely mad, they would have hit like they meant it, and he knew Ino could hit _a lot _harder than that.

"Don't worry, Ino." Shikamaru said, wiping blood on his sleeve. "You can go find someone else to go with you. Maybe if you hurry you can still find that pretty boy, Sasuke."

"Wait a second, Shikamaru," Ino said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done-"

"What? Shouldn't have strung me along thinking you actually liked me?" Shikamaru asked. "Don't worry, Ino. I knew this was just one of your games anyway."

"Shikamaru, no-"

"Seriously. You didn't hurt my feelings. In fact, I'll go talk with Sakura or whoever and make it clear that you still deserve to win your bet."

"It's not like that!" Ino wailed. Shikamaru paused. Were those tears in her eyes? Had his cruel words actually hurt her, or was she just pretending?

He shrugged. It didn't matter. Ino had been the one stringing him along, making him feel like something special because of whatever sick joke she was playing. If he had hurt her feelings, so what? She might have been a team mate, but that didn't mean she couldn't be a jerk too.

"You can have your games, Ino." He said as he turned around and began walking away. "Just don't expect me to play."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Why did this chapter literally take two months to write? Halo, Orange Box, school, work, and then Eternal Sonata. Seriously. The last couple of months have been hectic, and while writing has gotten slower, the passion is definitely still there. Expect the next chapter in a couple weeks as things get relatively back on schedule. Until November.

Relationship trouble in ninja land! It's like an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 only with fireballs and ninja stars, which makes it that much cooler. Expect more death and killing later on.

And girls, c'mon. You don't make any sense, especially when it comes to clothes shopping. Cut us guys some slack. We just want to go home and watch TV already.

Love you guys. Make sure you review.


	40. Chapter 40

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Ninja Guide is mine but Naruto isn't. CoD 4 is awesome btw.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

Chapter Forty: Spies and Lies

To say Tsunade did not trust the elderly man standing before her would have been a massive understatement. There was not a single thing he said, did, or thought that Tsunade was not immediately skeptical of, which was ironic given that he had somehow managed to obtain one of the highest ranking positions in the Konoha armed forces. It was not so much that his loyalties were in question –no, Tsunade was positive his allegiances remained with Konoha –but simultaneously it was impossible not to suspect the man of having devious intentions. This distrust probably stemmed from the fact that the man had been a deep cover spy in ANBU's black operations for almost his entire life, living and breathing deceit and duplicity. How was it impossible to ever trust a person whose sole occupation had been to convince you of one thing while doing the opposite?

The man glowered at Tsunade from his one good eye. The other was hidden beneath the swathe of bandages that covered most of his head and the entirety of his torso. He was also missing an arm; a bandaged covered stump was all that remained. Where he had sustained these injuries no one knew. His file was non-existent –it had vanished the day he enlisted into ANBU, and no one, not even the Hokage herself, knew very much of his past exploits. The man was a living enigma, his existence shrouded in secrets and mysteries.

"Danzo, I'm glad you finally decided to show up." Tsunade said pleasantly. She wasn't even sure Danzo was his real name. Most likely it was just another of his many aliases.

Danzo shrugged his shoulders. "I'm a busy man, Hokage."

"Busy carrying out _my_instructions, correct?"

He smirked. "Of course."

As much as she would have loved to make a deal of Danzo's flippancy, Tsunade wisely decided to let it go. She had more important matters to discuss with him.

"I've convened with the other branch heads," Tsunade said. "The militia is at seventy-five percent strength, and as always, Konoha's armed forces are prepared to mobilize at a moment's notice. What's the status on your spy network?"

Ah yes. That was why Tsunade kept Danzo on board despite not trusting him. Aside from being an accomplished soldier and tactician, his rather sordid past in the shadowy spy world had cultivated a number of incredibly useful informants in practically every country, ally and foe alike. Some of them were the common street thug that slipped information periodically for spare change, while others were high ranking government officials or military officers. Aside from Danzo, only a select few in ANBU knew the identification of all their informants, and that was the way Tsunade liked it.

The death of Gato had shown how vulnerable Konoha's security was. Tsunade was in no hurry to make the same mistake twice.

"They're in position and passing out intelligence to our agents as we speak," Danzo said. "Our spies have already confirmed what we already know: The lands of Earth and Lightening have begun to mobilize their troops and armor along their borders."

Tsunade nodded. "Their official excuse?"

"A military exercise meant to simulate the defense of a mock invasion," Danzo replied. "Ironic I know."

"What type of invasion can we anticipate?" Tsunade asked.

"More than likely Earth will push through the land of Grass, and Lightening will attempt to stage an amphibious landing along our eastern shore."

Tsunade folded her hands and closed her eyes contemplatively. Grass country was one of Konoha's neighbors and trade allies, but they lacked any semblance of a military. Resistance would be minimal if anything. Earth would elect to plow through them to get to Konoha before daring to earn the ire of Rain country –the only other convenient path into Konoha.

"We'll need to begin to set up refugee camps to facilitate the exodus of war victims from Grass country," Tsunade said to herself. Grass country was doomed though its citizens did not know it yet. Once the fight began, it would get caught right in the middle of the two warring nations.

Danzo stroked his chin. "I've yet to receive word from Rice country. As of now, I would not count on them as an ally."

"Three countries against one," Tsunade remarked quietly. "Hardly good odds."

"Our envoys to the Land of Wind and the Land of Rain haven't returned?" Danzo asked.

"Not yet, but I'm positive the Kazekage will rally to our cause," Tsunade said confidently.

Danzo, however, did not look as certain as Tsunade. "That boy is not his father," he said gravely.

The Hokage shrugged. "Leave the diplomacy to me, Danzo. You worry about the war."

"Ah yes, the war. I had almost forgotten." The elderly spy retorted scornfully. He turned away, glaring into the distance.

Tsunade smiled; gleeful at the irritation she was causing Danzo. "You wish to say something?"

Danzo turned his head back around to scowl at the Hokage. "I wish to know why you vetoed my proposal for a preemptive strike on our enemies!"

"We're not at war yet, Danzo."

"But we will!" he snapped. "In a week, a month, a year –sooner or later we will be at war with an enemy force far greater than our own! If we strike _now_while our enemies are unprepared, I can guarantee our chances of victory will increase exponentially!"

There was some truth in his words. Tsunade was not so foolish to ignore him completely merely because she did not trust him. She had anticipated he would propose premature military action –that was just Danzo's way. He was what some called a War Hawk, a man so predisposed towards war that he had difficulty living without it. War was what defined old military veterans like Danzo. They had spent their entire lives fighting wars that they knew little else. A world without war was a world without meaning.

"Give me permission to dispatch ANBU," Urged Danzo. "And in twenty-four hours I will have Rock and Lightening in such disarray that they won't be able to manage a counter-attack let alone an invasion. Think of the lives we'll save, the collateral damage that could be avoided."

"Danzo, don't mislead me with lies about your selfless intentions. If you attack, you attack for your own reasons." Tsunade folded her hands and set them down on her desk. "Request denied."

"You're making a mistake," said Danzo. "

"Perhaps," replied Tsunade evenly. "But I won't let history remember Konoha as the country that attacked first."

Danzo curled his lip. "Funny. I remember you being ready for war not so long ago when you stabbed a diplomat in this very office."

Tsunade flinched inwardly, but did not allow her face to relay anything but the authoritative severity expected of her post as Hokage. "Ready your spies, Danzo. That'll be all."

Reluctantly, Danzo nodded. It was obvious there was still so much more he wanted to say, but, as belligerent as he was, he still knew when to obey orders. He offered a sloppy salute which Tsunade ignored. He scowled one last time, his only good eye shimmering with barely disguised disgust, and then stormed out of her office.

Tsunade waited until the doors to her office closed with a loud _thud_before she allowed herself to smile. That had gone a lot better than she had anticipated.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto curled his lip and had to force himself to refrain from lashing back with something sarcastic and unpleasant. First, he had to remember that Sasuke had helped in saving his bacon the night before, and the other, in all honesty, he supposed it was a pretty fair question. After all, it was impossible to discover a male classmate in the home of a female classmate without making some sort of unconscious implication that did not involve clandestine sex. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, eyeing Sasuke haughtily.

"Sakura asked me to stay the night," he replied with a sinister grin. Just because Naruto knew the suggestive innuendo of that statement was absolutely false didn't mean Sasuke had to. He would love to watch Sasuke squirm. Being civil and being nice were not necessarily synonymous in Naruto's book.

However, Sasuke, being the stoic, emotionless asshole he was, showed no sign of being irritated. He just shrugged. "Is Sakura home?"

"She might be."

This time, Sasuke scowled, quite clearly annoyed this time. Naruto smiled inwardly. Victory!

"So is she home or not?" Sasuke growled.

Naruto shrugged, eyeing the Uchiha suspiciously. "Again, she might be. What do you want with her?"

"Like it's any of your business, moron," Sasuke said, smirking that arrogant smirk he knew Naruto hated so very much. "So, how come you haven't summoned your master yet? I take it you're supposed to be Sakura's new doorman or something, right?"

Naruto glared at Sasuke. He had to remind himself again that he was trying to remain calm, that he owed Sasuke that much for standing up for him against the villagers. "Shut up, Sasuke."

"See, if I need to push by you and find Sakura myself, I'm going to have to warn you that you're not going to get a tip."

The blonde-haired shinobi did not miss on Sasuke's thinly veiled challenge. "You think you can get past me?"

"You think you could stop me?" Sasuke retorted.

Naruto smiled wickedly. "I suppose I don't have to remind you how things ended last time, do I, _cry baby, _Sasuke?"

Naruto's words had his desired affect on Sasuke. The Uchiha flushed red with embarrassment as the painful memory was flung so callously in his face. His hands clenched into tight fists at his side. He glared at Naruto murderously, all pretenses of jocular banter replaced by scathing anger. Naruto did not look away, but instead stared right back at his rival, a defiant grin on his face.

_Screw being civil, _Naruto thought. Sasuke might have helped him out once, but that hardly negated a lifetime of enmity. One nice act did not excuse years of being the biggest, most pretentious asshole in the entire world as far as Naruto was concerned. Reminding Sasuke of his one, perhaps only, show of weaknesses might have been an incredibly low blow, but Naruto didn't care.

"Get out of my way, Naruto." Sasuke warned.

"Make me."

"You're going to get hurt."

Naruto snorted derisively. "Let's find out."

Sasuke took a step forward and tried to shoulder his way past Naruto. Naruto responded by shoving Sasuke backwards. With a growl, the Uchiha lunged at Naruto, catching the blonde shinobi in the midsection and knocking the wind out of him. The two ninjas fell into the house, trading punches and kicks as they wrestled on the ground.

Naruto moved his head just as Sasuke's fist slammed into the wooden paneling where it had been a second ago. An instant later, he twisted his head out of the way again when another potentially deadly blow almost connected with his jaw. Not wanting to wait for Sasuke's luck to improve, Naruto leaned forward and smashed his forehead into Sasuke's face. Something snapped, and Naruto felt warm blood splash onto his face.

"Son of a bitch!" Sasuke snarled as he staggered to his feet and backed away from Naruto. Blood was seeping through his fingers as he cradled his broken nose, but Naruto had no sympathy. Trying to take advantage of Sasuke's distraction, he raced after his opponent. But Sasuke, injured or no, still had one good hand which he used to savagely punch an unsuspecting Naruto in the side of the head.

Naruto grunted and reeled backwards, cursing painfully when his back poked painfully into the edge of a table. He tried to change his path of retreat, but when he looked up to see where Sasuke was, the first thing he noticed was Sasuke, blood still pouring down his face, soaring through the air towards him. The two boys fell back against the table, their combined weight shattering the furniture into a mess of wooden fragments. They rolled back and forth across floor, grappling with one another to gain the upper hand.

For a second, Naruto was on top, wailing down on Sasuke with a hailstorm of heavy punches, but Sasuke managed to get in a lucky punch that connected solidly with Naruto's right eye. The troublemaking ninja stumbled backwards, clutching his eye in agony. Sasuke quickly got to his feet and retreated to the other side of the room, his nose still dribbling blood on the ground.

"You asshole!" snarled Naruto.

"That's just me getting worked up, bastard!" Sasuke shouted.

"Really?" Naruto shot back. He rolled his sleeves. "We'll I've just gotten started, too!"

Sasuke spat on the ground between them contemptuously. Unsurprisingly, there was more blood than saliva that ended up staining the floor.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a long time," Naruto said, licking his lips eagerly. "A chance to put you in your place with nothing holding us back."

"Nothing holding us back?" Sasuke said with a cruel laugh. "Naruto, if there was nothing holding _me_back, you'd be dead already. Please, tell me this isn't the best that_you_can do."

Naruto scowled. Sasuke knew full well what Naruto, or the Kyubi more, was capable of. At the same time, Sasuke also knew there wasn't a chance that Naruto would release the Kyubi, endangering the lives of the entire village including Sakura, over something so trivial. Sasuke, however, had no such inhibitions to worry about.

_Release me! _Hissed a familiar voice in Naruto's ear, emerging from its silence the second it noticed Naruto's hesitation. _Against our powers, he is nothing!_

_Shut it. _Snapped Naruto quickly. _I don't need your help to beat Sasuke. _

Naruto and Sasuke glared at one another silently across the room, their mutual resentment for one another manifesting into a tangible presence that bridged the gap between the two combatants. It was true that they were team mates and comrades, but there was no denying that they could not stand one another. Years of pent up irritation, envy, annoyance, and jealousy had calumniated to this one moment, and it would now finally be released.

"I leave you boys alone together for five seconds and look what happens."

Naruto and Sasuke whirled around in surprise. Sakura was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, her arms crossed across her chest, and an absolutely terrifying frown of disapproval on her face. Oops. They had been so busy fighting they had completely forgotten about Sakura.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked. Her voice was steady and calm, but there was no missing the fury that underlined her every word. She walked towards the two boys, eyeing both of them back and forth, like a tiger deciding which of its prey it wanted to devour first.

"I came to see you," Sasuke answered. "But then your attack dog jumped me."

"Screw you!" Naruto yelled. He turned to Sakura and whined, "He's lying! Sasuke started it!"

"_I_started it? What?" Sasuke spat venomously. "Are you five years old? Haven't graduated beyond tattle telling?"

"You keep talking," warned Naruto with an ugly scowl. "And we'll see how much uglier I can make that pretty face of yours."

"Oh yeah?" Sasuke started towards Naruto, but a quick glance from Sakura made him stop in his tracks.

"Shut up. Both of you." Snapped Sakura. She looked at Sasuke's broken nose and Naruto's eye, which had started to turn into a hideous shade of brown and was beginning to swell. "Sit down. Let me get some ice. Do you think I can go get some without you guys killing one another?"

Sasuke pulled up a chair and nodded. Naruto spared one last deathly glare at Sasuke, but reluctantly also sat down.

Sakura emerged from the kitchen a few seconds later holding two bags of ice and a roll of bandages. She looked genuinely surprised not to find them rolling on the ground again exchanging punches. "Sasuke's injury is worst," she told Naruto, tossing him one of the bags of ice. "Just put that on your eye and I'll take care of you in a minute."

They sat in silence for several minutes, Sakura tending to Sasuke's broken nose with the skilled hands of a trained medical ninja, and Naruto and Sasuke glaring daggers at one another.

"Ouch," grumbled Sasuke as Sakura began applying the bandages. "I thought you were supposed to be gentle."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did a little boo-boo hurt a big, tough, badass like you, Sasuke?" she snapped scathingly. "Be quiet and let me work."

Sasuke grinned. "That was a bit harsh. And here I thought we were starting to get along."

"What? You mean before you decided to drop off the face of the planet for a month?" Sakura asked coldly. Sasuke stopped grinning. "But it's OK. Let your friends worry about and then casually waltz back in their lives like nothing happened. After all, it's _you_we're talking about, right? The amazing Uchiha Sasuke?"

"It wasn't like that." Sasuke argued. "I had things I needed to take care of."

Sakura shrugged. "Your excuses don't mean a whole lot to me anymore." She finished wrapping Sasuke's nose and then moved on to Naruto. He smiled when she approached, but his smile quickly faded when he saw how pissed off she was still.

"As for you, Uzumaki Naruto," Sakura said, lifting Naruto's ice pack and inspecting his injury. "I can't say I'm surprised to see you acting so immature. Wrestling on the ground like a bunch of little kids, really."

Naruto dared to smile and say jokingly, "But if you weren't surprised, at least you can't be disappointed, right?"

Sakura just scowled at Naruto. Wrong.

The pink-haired medical ninja glared at both of them. "I want you and Naruto to stop acting like little bickering children. You're almost grown men. Don't you think fighting is a bit beneath you?"

_No, not really. _Thought Naruto. Sometimes people like Sasuke just needed a punch in the face. Nonetheless, he nodded in agreement anyway. Sasuke said nothing but kind of shrugged, which, Sakura supposed meant he also agreed.

"Good. Now apologize."

"Sure," said Sasuke. "I'm sorry about the mess, Sakura. I'll pay you for it."

"Yeah, sorry, Sakura." Naruto added.

"Not to me," said Sakura with a scowl. "Apologize to one another."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Not a chance. He's the one who jumped me."

"Go suck a dick, moron." shot back Sasuke.

Sakura groaned in dismay and massaged her temple, trying not to lash out and kill the both of them. Boys! They were such idiots!

Naruto looked at Sakura and sighed. Maybe Sakura was right. Maybe it was time for him and Sasuke to set aside their differences and –_hahahaha_. He chuckled silently, unable to even complete the thought without realizing how ridiculous it sounded.

Still, at the very least he could _pretend_to make peace with Sasuke, if only to appease Sakura. He was still trying to figure out the best way to break the bad news to her, and leaving her all pissed off probably wasn't the smartest way to set up for that.

"Fine. Sorry, Sasuke," muttered Naruto.

"Yeah. Likewise," grunted Sasuke.

"Hey," objected the blonde shinobi. "I don't think that counts as an apolo-"

"Good," Sakura said, cutting off Naruto's objection. "Now that that's settled, I'm sure both of you feel much better."

The two boys glanced at one another. Naruto's eye was now solid black and Sasuke's nose was swollen and was coated in dried blood.

"No not really." They said in unison.

Sakura drew up a chair as well and sat in between the two ninjas. "What're you doing here anyway, Sasuke?"

Sasuke hesitated. "I kind of wanted to talk to you in private."

"Why?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"Just because," the Uchiha responded evasively. He shot a dark look at Naruto. "I wanted to tell you something away from prying ears."

Sakura shook her head. "Naruto is going to be living here for a few days, so whatever you tell me I'll probably end up telling him eventually. If you have something to say, say it now because I think you've wasted enough of my time today."

There was something that flashed across Sasuke's face for a brief fraction of a second, something that looked like hurt, as if Sakura's callous words had actually managed to penetrate his cold, heartless exterior. Whatever it was, though, it passed quickly and Sasuke shrugged carelessly. "Fine, I want you to go to the dance with me."

"What?" asked Sakura.

"What?" demanded Naruto.

"I want you, Sakura, to go to the Christmas dance with me," repeated Sasuke.

Sakura did not say anything for a minute as she looked into Sasuke's eyes. There was no doubt in her mind about what she had to do. She still had feelings for Sasuke, but it was too late for that. Sasuke had already demonstrated pretty clearly he cared little for her feelings.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." She said. "I can't."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, looking quite taken aback. Obviously he had not expected that answer. There was little doubt in his mind that Sakura was not being coy or playing hard to get. No, Sakura was not like a lot of the flakey girls in their high school; she was a woman of conviction.

"Why?" he asked, confused. "Did someone already ask you? Is that it?"

"No," replied Sakura.

Sasuke flinched as if someone had slapped him. Sakura was turning _him_down? Since when did _any_girl turn him down without a very good reason?

"What do you mean no?"

"I can't go with you because-"

"Because why?" asked Sasuke harshly.

Naruto suddenly stood up and walked over to Sakura. He draped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her close to his body. Shocked, Sakura looked up at Naruto questioningly, but the only answer was to found was a serene smile. He gazed up and winked mischievously at Sasuke, grinning inwardly at the look of surprise on his nemesis' face.

"She can't go with you, Sasuke." Naruto said. "Because she's already going with me."

* * *

Author's Notes

Sorry this chapter is a little bit late. Political tension amongst Tsunade and Danzo, ninja cat fight between Sasuke and Naruto, and ZOMFG ANOTHER PLOT TWIST!?!?!?!

Thanks for the reviews last chapter, guys. I appreciate it a lot. The more feedback I get, the better I can write to tailor to your guys wants.

Till next chapter!

-Me


	41. Chapter 41

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Ninja Guide is mine but Naruto isn't.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty-One: Forbidden Powers and Dress Stores**

Sasuke swore under his breath as he noisily stomped through the woods, crushing the snow covered underbrush beneath his boots with little regards for the sanctity that the natives of Konoha normally held for the forest. No doubt his transgressions would draw the ire of its guardians, but Sasuke's judgment was so clouded with anger and frustration that he barely gave it a second thought. A steady stream of cuss words streaming from in between his tightly clenched teeth, Sasuke angrily shoved low hanging branches out of his path, ignoring the ominous _cracks_as their ancient limbs snapped and toppled on the freshly fallen snow. Had his head been a little clearer, he might have noticed that not all the dead branches on the ground were exclusively of his doing. It was almost as if someone had been this way before only days before, savagely deforesting the ancient woods in a fit of frustration.

How strange.

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He had no idea where he was or how long he had been aimlessly walking. The forest was massive, and the thick canopy overhead obstructed any hint of the sun. On top of that, the forest was a winding maze of practically identical looking trees. Even with the navigation skills required of any competent ninja, without an intimate knowledge of the woods like the Issei clan had, it was incredibly easy to get lost.

Which conveniently enough, was what Sasuke was right now.

"Dammit," he swore, his breath a swirling cloud in the winter's cold. It was freezing outside, and what more, Sasuke was beginning to realize just how tired he was. Wearily, he sat down on the trunk of tree that had toppled over nearby. He exhaled deeply, trying to exorcize some of the frustration that was pent up inside him.

Sakura had turned him down! And for that complete moron of all people!

Sasuke was used to getting what he wanted, but it would be unfair to call him spoiled. His wealth and fame had earned him the quasi-celebratory status in Konoha High, but whatever did not come naturally to the young Uchiha heir, Sasuke worked hard on obtaining. He was stubborn that way. If Sasuke wanted something, he normally got it, no matter what had to be done in the process.

And right now he wanted Sakura.

It was strange. Two hours ago, Sasuke was planning on asking Sakura out on a whim. There was no way in hell he was going to show up to the dance by himself, and after finding out Ino had apparently gone momentarily insane and asked Shikamaru to the dance, Sasuke had only one other option really. Granted, practically any girl in his year would kill for a chance to go to the dance with him, but frankly, they all either bored or annoyed him.

Sakura was different. She was everything a guy could ask for. Talented, smart, interesting, periodically sarcastic and scathingly witty, and pretty cute too –certainly an exception in the sea of shallow bimbos that, much to Sasuke's dismay, comprised the majority of his fan base. On top of that, he would be lying if he did not think that some sort of connection had formed between him and Sakura. He had held a genuine conversation with her over hot chocolate. Finding someone he found interesting enough to talk with for more than a few minutes was rare.

Plus, the very fact that she was refusing his advances was partially what made Sasuke want her even more. _No one _said "no" to Uchiha Sasuke!

But why Naruto of all people? The obvious answer was that she felt bad for him. Sasuke had to give him that. As much as he disliked that idiot, he had to admit that life had dealt Naruto a pretty crappy hand. Sasuke had lost his family, but Naruto had never known his. Oh, and having an insanely malevolent demon unceremoniously crammed into your body kind of sucked too. Being hated by the entire village for years probably didn't help much either.

Was that perhaps why Sasuke was so upset? Their entire lives, Naruto had been competing against Sasuke without very much success. But now, Naruto had finally beaten Sasuke at something.

_Am I only mad because I lost to Naruto? _Sasuke asked himself. He shook his head. No. The notion that the two were even remotely comparable was ridiculous.

_So why am I so mad?_

Because Sakura had said "no". Because he had been an idiot and not asked her right away. Because he was a fool with an over inflated ego who thought Sakura was so hopelessly in love with him that she would wait for him to ask her. Because he had taken her for granted, and not shown her the respect she deserved.

_Stupid, Sasuke, stupid. And here I thought you were smart._

What he wanted to do next, Sasuke was still uncertain. Common sense said to be emotionally detached about the entire thing, to bury his frustration with indifference. Choose some good looking bimbo from his entourage of fawning sycophants and get over Sakura. She had said "no" and pursuing her now would just make Sasuke look like some love sick jackass. On the other hand, spending an entire evening with some yappy schoolgirl cliché was not particularly appealing either.

No, he wanted Sakura alright.

And Uchiha Sasuke always ended up getting what he wanted.

Sasuke frowned. But how was he going to go about tearing Sakura away from Naruto? Apparently his natural charisma, wealth, and good looks weren't enough to convince Sakura. Sasuke had all three in abundance compared to Naruto who was poor, about as charming as a rock, and, let's face it, no where near as attractive as Sasuke who constantly straddled the boundaries of handsome and flat out bishonen.

Roses? No, too generic. Kittens with big eyes? Chocolates? Love letters in poorly scribed iambic pentameter hanging on trees?

No, no, no, no! That was what a normal, predictable, and abysmally dull girl would find charming. Sakura was different. If Sasuke showed up at her doorsteps with a bundle of red roses, chocolates and a kitten named Mittens, Sakura would probably slam the door in his face and think he had gone mental.

Sasuke snarled as frustration quickly dissolved into anger. It had just dawned on him that for someone who was renowned for being both intelligent and clever, he was having difficulty devising a plan to win a girl away from a boy who should've been declared legally retarded years ago. He was so used to girls falling in love with him the moment he entered the room that it had never occurred to him that he might actually have to work to get someone to go out with him.

Killing Naruto would be the simplest of options if not necessarily the smartest. It would give Sasuke a great deal of satisfaction, but unfortunately, he did not imagine the murder of her current boyfriend would sit very well with Sakura.

Sasuke sighed. He needed to come up with _something_and quick. The dance was in two days.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…." A voice called from behind. "You look upset."

"What do you want, Kabuto?" Sasuke asked without turning around.

Kabuto sat down beside Sasuke. "What troubles you?"

"None of your business."

The Konoha medic laughed. "Come, Sasuke, if we're going to be working together you're going to need to be a little bit more forthcoming with me."

Sasuke shrugged. "We're not working together. I'm letting you help me. There's a big difference."

"Have you been following my instructions?" asked Kabuto, ignoring what Sasuke said. "And exercising the techniques daily?"

Again, Sasuke shrugged. "Sometimes. I've been busy."

Kabuto frowned, obviously displeased by Sasuke's obvious carelessness. "Sasuke, I thought we had an understanding. I help you, but only if you help yourself. I thought gaining revenge on your brother was important, more important than say wooing some pretty girl to the big dance."

Sasuke whirled around. "You've been spying on me?" he demanded furiously.

Kabuto looked unfazed by Sasuke's wrath. "We've made an investment into you Sasuke. I am merely watching over it."

"Well don't!" Sasuke snapped. "If I catch you spying on me again our deal is off!"

"That decision is entirely yours," Kabuto responded calmly. "But without my help, what chance do you think you have against Itachi?"

Sasuke didn't answer, and instead stared resolutely out into the woods. The obvious answer was "no" and both of them knew it. No matter how hard Sasuke trained, the odds of successfully defeating Itachi alone and without help were depressingly bleak.

"I've looked at the scrolls you gave me. Most of the techniques have been outlawed for hundreds of years." The young Uchiha said distantly.

"They are only dangerous if an incompetent ninja attempts to perform them," said Kabuto. "I'm confident you can handle it."

"I-I'm not sure I want to learn some of them," Sasuke said. "Some of them are illegal for a good reason. Chained lightening techniques? Human soul replacement?"

Kabuto patted Sasuke on the back. "Do you think Itachi won't already know many of these techniques? We are giving you weapons, Sasuke, weapons you will need to defeat your brother."

Sasuke glared at Kabuto. "Stop treating me like a fool, Kabuto. Knowing a few extra techniques isn't going to help me kill Itachi! You know what he's capable of! Now what aren't you telling me? What do you have planned?"

Kabuto smiled and adjusted his glasses. "In time, Sasuke, you shall know. Right now, I need to know that you're committed to becoming strong. Stronger enough to defeat Itachi."

He eyed Sasuke's heavily bandaged nose and smiled wickedly. "Strong enough to defeat Naruto."

Sasuke flushed, embarrassed and angry. "Of course I am," he snarled.

"Good. Then I would suggest you spend a little bit more time practicing, and a little less time chasing after girls."

"Go fu-" Sasuke stopped in mid-sentence. Kabuto was gone.

Not for the first time did Sasuke feel slightly nervous about his arrangement with Kabuto and whatever shadowy partners he had. It was true that they had supplied him with new techniques, many of them with very apparent value to someone as combat oriented as Sasuke. However, he doubted they were aiding him out of the goodness of their heart. No, they wanted something from him too besides the eventual death of Itachi. What it was, Sasuke was not sure, and that was what worried him the most.

He was smart enough to be suspicious. But was he smart enough to listen to his suspicions?

One part of him wanted to run to the Hokage and report Kabuto. Surely what he was doing was illegal. On the flipside, though, if Kabuto was arrested, then the chances of getting any further help from him or his allies vanished as well.

Sasuke held out his hand and suddenly a blue orb of crackling electricity sprung forth. It snapped and hissed, little tendrils of lightening dancing between his fingers and the hovering ball of energy. If he was careless enough to toss this at the trees, it would explode, consuming almost a kilometer of the forest in a maelstrom of electrical energy and killing everything within its radius.

"Power…" he whispered. He closed his hand into a fist, extinguishing the ball of electricity. Even with it gone, he could still feel its remnants coursing through his skin, the raw, unadulterated feel of chakra running through his body.

For now, Sasuke would wait. Kabuto could help him. Of that Sasuke was certain. He could help him gain the power he needed to kill Itachi. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

Feeling the cold, winter breeze against her face, Hinata could not help but smile. It felt like forever since she had been outdoors, but then again, it probably had been. Her father had been rather insistent that she remain indoors with him the last few days; coincidentally, his newfound fondness of his estranged daughter had flourished the same day that Naruto was released from prison. However, after days of sitting despondently around the house, gloomily staring out her bedroom window at the snow covered world beyond, did her father_finally_consent to allow her to venture outside the family's estate. But even then, it was only because he needed someone to get groceries from the nearby market because all their servants were busy preparing for that night's banquet.

Oh, and he had made Neji go along with her too. Her smile faded slightly as she glanced over at her cousin. From the rigid way he silently trudged through the snow, to the listless, bored look on his face –everything about his demeanor suggested that there were a million places other places he would rather be than on a mundane grocery trip. Naturally, all one million probably consisted of spending time with a certain _someone,_but Hinata wasn't about to ask Neji to confirm her suspicions.

"Thanks for coming with me," said Hinata sweetly. "I didn't know if I'd be able to carry all those heavy, heavy bags by myself."

Neji snorted, the sarcasm in her words not escaping him. A ninja, even one as small as Hinata, could easily carry the weight of fallen comrade on their backs for hours, days if needs be. Carrying a bag of groceries back to the estate would hardly produce a sweat.

"You know, you _could_go do something else if you want," Hinata remarked. "

Neji shook his head. "Your father requested I accompany for you during the duration of this journey, and so I'll do my best to accommodate his wishes."

Hinata rolled her eyes. Good old Neji. He was incredibly obedient and entirely devoid of anything resembling a personality. All you needed to do was to change his batteries periodically and make sure his joints didn't rust when it rained.

"Are you sure you're not here to keep an eye on me?" Hinata asked.

Neji looked at her shrewdly. "Is there a reason why I need to be keeping an eye on you?"

Hinata smirked. "Touché, cousin. Touché."

They walked in silence for the rest of the trip to the grocery store. Not that Hinata had expected anything different really. While an extraordinarily gifted student and fighter, Neji was about as personable as a wooden plank. Aside from the obvious, Hinata had no idea what Tenten saw in him. Maybe she liked talking to walls in her spare time or something because Hinata could not fathom Neji actually holding up his end in any sort of conversation.

They walked into the store and Hinata handed Neji a list of paper and a shopping basket. "Can you grab the things on this list?" she asked.

"What're you going to be getting?"

"I have another list," Hinata said, patting her pocket. "We'll meet back here in…twenty minutes?"

Neji nodded and departed down the aisle.

She watched him as he left, waiting until he disappeared around a corner before setting down her basket on the floor. There was no other shopping list. She had given Neji the entire one to keep him occupied, hopefully long enough for her to slip out on her own for a little while. Hinata was not so naive as to believe that Neji was accompanying her for fun; he was there to make sure she did not go looking for Naruto. And Hinata hardly needed that kind of protection, thank you very much. As much as she wanted to, she knew meeting with Naruto even accidentally would only endanger him –the last thing she wanted -but at the same time, being cooped up in her prison of a home for the last few days had literally driven the poor girl mad. Hinata needed to get away from it all, if only for a few minutes.

As she slipped out of the grocery store, she felt a fleeting pang of guilt for deceiving Neji like that. But then again, had not her elder cousin just lied to her?

Wrapping her winter jacket closer around her, she hastily jogged down the road towards the rest of Konoha's market district. Lining both sides of the street were stores and vendor's booths that sold everything from freshly butchered meat to the latest and greatest in cosmetic potions. Their owners, barely visible beneath the swath of scarves and sweaters they were bundled in, stood outside their shops calling out to the passing pedestrians.

"Get your kunai! Sharpest in Konoha!"

"Fresh fish! Just unthawed!"

"You there, pretty girl!" an old man called out to Hinata. "You look like you could use a love potion! How about it? I'll even give you a discount!"

Hinata chuckled and politely shook her head. The love potion seller frowned in disappointment, but only for a moment before he swooped down on a group of middle school girls behind Hinata. They instantly began to giggle amongst themselves and crowded around the vendor, intrigued by whatever solution he had to offer for their romance woes.

_Oh to be that young and innocent still_, Hinata thought with a wistful sigh. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if she had not been born into a ninja clan. For starters, she might have found a boy she liked who _didn't_have a malicious demon inside him. Hinata was pretty sure complications like that were relatively endemic to only ninja relationships.

She continued walking, glancing casually at the different stores as she passed by them, but then suddenly stopped in front of one. When she had ran away from Neji, Hinata had not really intended on stopping at any store much less doing any shopping, but for some reason she found herself drawn to this one.

It was a small wooden store with a hand painted sign that hung precariously on the roof, but its grubby exterior was hardly what caught Hinata's notice. In the front display window, modeled by a bunch of faceless mannequins, were the most gorgeous dresses she had ever seen. They were hardly extravagant, lacking any of them lace and sparkling sequins or jewels that the celebrities of Konoha wore to their movie premiers, but they were beautiful all the same. Especially the one furthest from the left: a strapless, navy blue dress that Hinata unexplainably found herself falling in love with.

_It wouldn't hurt to look, right? _Hinata thought as she crossed the street, heading towards the store.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Hopefully I'll get another update in before I head off to vacation in Asia. If I don't get to, I just want to thank all of you for reading and to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Thanks a lot guys! 

-JAJapster


	42. Chapter 42

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Ninja Guide is mine but Naruto isn't.

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

Chapter Forty-Two: Unwinding the Web

The interior of the dress store Hinata walked into did not differ from the dilapidated sight she had seen when approaching it. The roof hovered only a few inches above her head, and the pungent odor of mothballs filled the air. It was dimly lit too; a solitary lantern swung precariously overhead, shedding its light periodically on the racks and racks of clothing that were sprawled out throughout the store. If there was any system to the chaotic mess, Hinata could not see it. Winter jackets were intermixed with summer shorts; a rain coat was hanging beside a pair of boxers, and the most risqué of lingerie could be spotted sharing the same shelf with a bundle of mix matched socks. Hinata bemusedly browsed through the closest rack, leafing through a polka dotted bra, a baseball cap, and a pair of holey thermal underwear. Price tags were certainly too much to hope for, and the only store attendant in sight was an ancient old woman who was fast asleep behind a wooden desk.

As much as she loathed catering to such a pathetically maintained establishment, Hinata wanted to find that dress. While the rest of the store was packed with what looked to be hand-me-downs and remnants of a clothing drive or garage sale, the gown she had spotted in the display window was nothing short of gorgeous. It was quite literally a glimmering diamond in the rough.

Carefully she inched her way closer and closer to the display window, careful not to knock over any of the racks of clothing as she made her way past. It was next to impossible. The clothing racks were pushed so closely together that it took all of Hinata's training as a ninja to safely pass through, and even then, it was not without a few uncomfortable scrapes with protruding hangers.

"Ouch," she whimpered, glancing sadly at the angry red mark on her arm. A pang of annoyance flashed through Hinata's mind, and it was only the prospect of finding that dress that kept her irritation in check. A quick glance at her watch told her she had to hurry. She had precious little time to waste navigating the labyrinth of clothing, not when Neji was bound to have finished his grocery shopping soon.

At long last, after what seemed to be another hour of wading in and out of the sea of rubber hand bags and cheetah spotted fur coats, she finally reached her dress. The only problem was, someone was already there, stroking the dress' silk fabric with a rapturous longing that Hinata could identify all too well with.

"Sakura!" Hinata exclaimed in surprise, instantly recognizing her classmate.

Sakura smiled when she saw Hinata and waved. "Hi, Hinata!"

Hinata paused for a moment and eyed her friend skeptically. There was something wrong with Sakura. She seemed unusually tense, and she kept glancing behind her as if some monster lurked behind the menagerie of clothes. That was strange. Sakura was normally so full of confidence and bravado; a chance meeting with a classmate hardly struck Hinata as something that would inspire such great unease.

"What are you doing here?" Hinata asked, pretending as if nothing was amiss.

Again, there was that unexplainable hesitation in Sakura as her eyes darted back and forth. It was almost as if Hinata had caught her red handed doing something wrong and Sakura was now feeling embarrassed and guilty.

The pink haired ninja cleared her throat and tried to smile. "I was looking for a dress for the Christmas dance and I happened to spot this one in the window," she pointed at the blue dress in the display window. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Hinata nodded, trying desperately to resist the urge to swap Sakura aside, grab the dress, and make a mad dash for the door. That was _her_dress Sakura was eyeballing. _She_had spotted it _first!_ "It is rather pretty." She agreed. "But who are you going to the dance with?"

Sakura continued to smile awkwardly, but was unable to meet Hinata's gaze. Twisting her hands shyly, she bit her lip, a flush of red darkening her cheeks.

Aha! So _that_was why Sakura was acting so peculiar. She was probably out shopping with her date to the dance. Why she would find that particularly embarrassing Hinata had no clue, which, naturally, made Hinata all the more curious.

"Who is he?" Hinata demanded excitedly. Sakura and Ino always made fun of her for crushing on Naruto; it was only fair that she return the favor. "Is he in our year? Is he cute?"

Hinata smiled as she watched her friend practically writhe in discomfort and blush a deeper and deeper shade of red as the interrogation continued.

"C'mon, Sakura, who is he?" Hinata asked anxiously. "Who's your date to the dance?"

"Sakura," a voice called from somewhere behind a rack of clothes. "Where'd you go?"

Hinata froze and her eyes widened in horror. Suddenly, she realized why Sakura was acting so strange, why her nervousness and anxiety had been so transparent. Hinata knew that voice –oh god she knew that voice all too well. She looked wildly at Sakura, hoping, praying that she would deny Hinata's greatest fear, but Sakura was staring resolutely at the floor.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no please…_

"Sakura?" that all too familiar voice called.

Hinata's heart sank to the bottom of her chest, anguish and sorrow filling the empty void. She wanted to turn and run away, to disappear into the endless racks of clothes and vanish off the face of the earth, but she couldn't. Like a deer trapped in the headlights of a speeding train, Hinata found her legs unwilling to move.

That cheetah striped fur coat was pushed aside, and Uzumaki Naruto emerged. "Sakura, there you are. I swear this place is like a-"

His words trailed away into silence when he saw Hinata standing there. His smile faded into a stern grimace, and the normal good humor in his cerulean eyes vanished.

Hinata's heart was beating a thousand beats a second, thumping erratically in her chest. Her cheeks were a brilliant shade of pink that would've rivaled the color of Sakura's hair, and despite the chilling wind that seeped through the building's thin walls, beads of perspiration dripped from her brow.

_I can't be here… _thought Hinata, but at the same time, here was exactly where she wanted to be. She wanted to rush forward and embrace Naruto, to cry into his chest and sobbingly beg for his forgiveness. She wanted to feel the warmth of his flesh again, to revel in the unique bliss that only he could inspire in her. _I want to…but I can't._

Just being there in the same room as Naruto was dangerous enough. If her father discovered about this, no doubt he would waste no time in carrying out his threats of throwing Naruto back in jail. As much as she wanted to be with Naruto, Hinata knew she could not risk his safety merely for her pleasure.

Tears were welling up in Hinata's eyes and great sobs choked her throat, but she tried to fight them back. She wanted to appear strong, to guise her tortured emotions behind a façade of placid indifference, but the mere sight of Naruto was enough to overwhelm her.

"I-I'm sorry, Naruto." Hinata whispered. She turned to Sakura and smiled weakly. "I-I hope you two are happy together."

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled. "Hold on!"

But holding on was the one thing Hinata could not allow herself to do. With a strangled wail of grief, she turned and fled, disappearing back into the ocean of clothes before Naruto could say anything else. At the entrance of the store, however, before she could slip out into the cold streets beyond, Hinata collided into someone. Hastily, she looked up to mutter a quick apology, but instead groaned miserably when she saw _who_it was she had run into.

"Cousin Neji," Hinata whispered.

Or more exactly, it was Neji and Tenten. The two were blocking the exit of the store, holding hands, and looking at Hinata with a mixture of bemusement and concern.

"Hinata, where were you?" Neji demanded with an irritated scowl. "I thought you-"

With a disapproving glare at her boyfriend, Tenten shoved Neji aside and gently embraced the trembling Hyuga heiress into her arms. "What's wrong Hinata?"

Just then, the closet clothing rack came crashing down with araucous_clang,_and Naruto came clambering over it. "Hinata, wait a second!"

In the blink of an eye, Neji was suddenly in front of Naruto, blocking him from reaching Hinata or Tenten.

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Neji, I just want to talk with Hinata for a second."

Neji's face remained expressionless while he replied, "I have explicit instructions to not allow you to talk with Hinata."

"Instructions?" the blonde haired shinobi demanded in outrage. "Instructions from who? Her father?"

Neji did not reply to Naruto's question, and instead glanced at Tenten. "Tenten, take Hinata home, please. I'll meet you outside."

Tenten nodded and began to steer the weeping Hinata out of the store.

"Hinata!" Naruto yelled after her, trying his best to maneuver around Neji. Neji, however, was adamant about not letting him past. He curled his lip in frustration. Hinata had been intentionally avoiding him, and Naruto was not about to let this accidental meeting slip by without finally speaking his mind.

"Neji, move!" he commanded.

Neji shook his head. "I won't."

Not caring about the potential consequences of his actions, Naruto channeled chakra into his hands, and, without warning, struck Neji in the chest. The blow caught the older Hyuga completely by surprise, and its force was enough to knock him halfway across the store. Clothing racks collapsed as Neji came crashing back down to the ground, trapping him beneath a mountain of clothes that ensnared his trashing limbs as he fought to stand back up.

In the flash of an eye, Tenten had pulled a kunai from her holster and pointing it meaningfully at Naruto's chest. "Keep back, Naruto." She warned.

Naruto ignored Tenten. He wasn't interested in starting a fight, but he needed to talk to Hinata if only for a moment. "Hinata, look at me," he begged. "Please!"

For a second, Hinata refused to meet Naruto's gaze, adamantly staring at the floor, but as his plaintive urging continued, she tearfully looked up.

"Hinata," Naruto said quickly but carefully. He did not have time to repeat himself, not when it would only take Neji a few more seconds to free himself. "Just answer this one question and I swear I'll never bother you again: why do you not want to see me?"

With baited breath, Naruto waited for Hinata's answer.

Naruto was not sure what sort of answer he was expecting. He thought she would say it was because he was a ravenous demon who had almost killed her, or because she did not want to be involved in a relationship that was doomed to fail, but instead…

"I-I never said that!" Hinata exclaimed incredulously.

"You never…b-but your father told me-"

Naruto's sentence ended prematurely when an infuriated Neji grabbed him from behind and roughly threw him onto the ground. Before Naruto could react, Neji was on top of him, pinning him firmly to the floor with an effective forearm across his windpipe. Naruto choked and tried to push Neji off, but a ten ton weight might as well have been sitting on his chest.

"Neji!" Hinata shouted. "That's enough!"

Neji nodded reluctantly, but before he could release Naruto, Sakura appeared out of nowhere. A vicious right hook collided with the side of his head, knocking him off of Naruto and sending him sprawling across the wooden floor.

"Get the hell off of him!" she snarled.

The blonde shinobi gasped for breath, wheezing and coughing as oxygen rushed to his deprived lungs. Sakura rushed to her friend's side, clutching his hand while massaging his back comfortingly. She gave Neji a long, dirty look, and there was little doubt in anyone's mind that she would gladly continue Naruto's fight for him.

For a long moment, the two groups of ninja's glared at one another, but as the seconds ticked away, the tension and hostility in the air began to fade, replaced by something far more sobering: humility. They had been classmates and comrades for years; but in a split second, they had found themselves at odds with one another, enemies, ready to fight to the bloody death if needs be. Their unity, their friendship, their commitment to one another –it had shattered, and for what? What indeed?

No one said anything, but the way none of them, not even the emotionless Neji nor the stubborn Sakura, could meet one another's eyes seemed to communicate their embarrassment and shame.

Finally, it was Neji who broke the silence. Getting to his feet and taking Hinata and Tenten underneath his arms, he steered them out of the store. "Let's go." He said.

The moment they set foot outside, Neji rounded on Hinata, grabbing his weeping cousin by her shoulders.

"Hinata!" Neji demanded. "What were you thinking? You know your father doesn't want you to see that boy! And yet you _sneak_off behind my back!"

"I-I'm sorry, cousin," Hinata whimpered. "I d-didn't mean to…"

"Didn't mean to?" he scoffed. "Do you have any idea what your foolishness has accomplished? You risk your father's reputation! You risk our family's reputation, and for what? For a mere boy!"

_Father…_

The younger Hyuga looked at her cousin. "W-what did Naruto mean by my father told him I never wanted to see him again?"

Neji raised an eyebrow. "I have no idea."

"Don't lie to me, Neji!" Hinata yelled. A sweltering anger was burgeoning in her chest, growing hotter and hotter with each denial, with each lie, with each insult to her intelligence that Neji made. It was bad enough that Neji was her father's obedient little lap dog, but on top of that he would deceive her as well. "I know you know exactly what Naruto was talking about."

"Your father is trying to protect you!" Neji roared. "He's trying to keep you safe from him! Why can't you understand that?"

"I-I can't believe you people," Hinata said. A cold breeze rushed past, rippling through her long, blue hair, but even that did little to extinguish the flames of rage roaring within her.

"Hinata, we're just trying to protect you," Neji said softly.

"Well I don't need _your_protection," she shouted, shoving her cousin roughly in the chest, pushing him away from her. "I don't want any of you interfering with my life anymore!"

"Hinata," Neji said sternly. "That's enough. It's time for us to go-"

Without thinking, without caring, Hinata let her anger take control and punched Neji in the face. He went down hard, falling on the ground amidst a spray of crimson that peppered the trodden snow.

Neji sat up, holding his bloody nose and staring at Hinata in stunned amazement. Tenten too was awestruck by her spontaneous outburst. Hinata herself could seldom believe what she had just done. Her first impulse was to rush to Neji's side while stammering apologies, but then she realized just how justified that had felt. It had felt good. Damn good.

"Neji, my father loves you more than he loves his own daughter!" Hinata shouted. She pointed her finger accusingly at Tenten. "You can date whoever you want and no one will dare object! But me?"

Hinata chuckled sadly. "I just can't catch a break can I? Whatever I do isn't good enough for my father, and the only boy I've ever loved I'm not even allowed to talk to. Where's the fairness in that, huh, Neji? When am I ever going to be able to live a normal life?"

The gentle whisper of the evening air was her only answer.

With a miserable cry, Hinata turned around and stormed off down the street, sending shocked pedestrians scurrying to the side of the road to avoid her. Neither Neji nor Tenten tried to stop Hinata. Only after she had turned a corner and disappear from sight did the trance the two were frozen in falter.

"That's the third time I've been sucked punched today," Neji remarked as Tenten helped him to his feet.

"Did you deserve it any of those times?" Tenten asked.

Neji just shrugged.

* * *

Night had fallen at the Haruno household, and Sakura and Naruto were preparing for bed. After fleeing from the store before the police arrived to investigate the commotion, Sakura and Naruto had endured an eerily quiet dinner together with her parents. No one had said much during the meal. Though their daughter was a ninja in training, Sakura's parents were simple village folk and shared little in common with the two shinobi apprentices. Besides, neither Sakura nor Naruto had been in the mood for conversation. Not after that afternoon at any rate.

When their meal was done, Sakura and Naruto had retired to Sakura's bedroom on the upper floor. The house was small, and short of making Naruto sleep on the cramped sofa in the living room, setting up a futon beside Sakura's bed was the most feasible option.

"Keep your hands off my daughter," Sakura's father had half jokingly warned. Naruto had humored it with a weary sort of laugh.

After they had changed into their night clothes and had laid out their backpacks, text books, and gear for school the next morning, Sakura and Naruto climbed into their beds. However, even when the lights had been turned out, neither of the two slept.

"Hey," Sakura whispered into the darkness. "How're you doing?"

"I'm fine," Naruto lied.

In truth, he was anything _but_fine. Tormented would have been an apt description. On one hand, he was ecstatic to find out that Hinata not only didn't hate him, but also wanted to see him. On the other, he was torn. He liked Hinata a lot, but he also liked Sakura a lot too. To make it even more complicated, he had already agreed to go to the dance with Sakura, which made him even more confused. He should been overjoyed to be finally dating the subject of his adolescent crushes, but this knowledge did little to silence the nagging little voice in the back of his mind.

_Would you still be dating Sakura if you knew Hinata still liked you?_

Hinata's father had made it pretty clear that he did not want Naruto to see his daughter. He had gone far enough to lie to both of them, to construct a fabrication complex enough to ensure that neither of the two lovers would ever see through his web of deceit.

_You failed Hyuga Hiashi. I know the truth. But what am I going to do with it?_

"You still like her, don't you." Sakura said plainly.

"Huh?"

"I'm not dumb, Naruto. And I don't have to be a psychic like Ino to be able to read your emotions. You made them pretty transparent this afternoon at the clothing store."

"Oh."

Sakura stirred in her bed, sitting up and glaring sullenly at Naruto. "Oh? Is that all you can say?"

Naruto thought for a moment before responding. He wanted to be delicate about the words he chose. Unfortunately, tact was hardly his forte. "Yeah, I think I still like her a lot."

"You think?"

The blonde shinobi shrugged. "I won't know for sure until I talk with her. And I'm sure by now her father has her locked in her room and guarded by a million guards."

"Fifteen Chunin on rotating patrols and a platoon of militia on stand by." Sakura clarified. She smiled at the disbelieving look that she knew Naruto was probably giving her. "I've been to her house before."

A few minutes past with naught but the steady rhythm of the ticking clock interrupting the silence. However, even then, sleep was the last thing on Naruto's mind.

"I need to see her," Naruto said resolutely. He climbed out of bed and began hastily changing his clothes. "I'm sorry, Sakura, but I can't sleep until I know what's really going on."

Sakura frowned and laid there in bed, staring sadly at the ceiling while she listened to Naruto slip on his gear. Deep down inside her, she knew this moment was coming. The second Naruto had run into Hinata, Sakura had seen the hope rekindled in her friend. Sakura had not wanted to believe it; she had hoped his affection for her would make him forget about Hinata. But she knew Naruto was one of the most determined individuals she had ever met. If there was hope, no matter how dim it may be, then Naruto would doggedly pursue it.

That was just the way Naruto was, and it was one of the things about him that she found attractive. It would be hypocritical of Sakura to condemn him for a trait of his that she found so endearing.

Finally, with a resigned sigh, she threw off her comforters and walked over to where her attire for the next morning had been readied.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"You're going to need help breaking into their estate." Sakura replied. "You'll just get yourself caught and back in jail if you go by yourself."

"B-but, I'm going to see-"

"Hinata, I know." She shrugged indifferently and smiled. "I must be crazy, but hey, I like you Naruto so I guess that's kind of given. Besides, I refuse to go to the dance with you knowing that I was only second best."

Naruto stopped mid-way through buckling his belt and walked over to Sakura. Grinning, he gently caressed her cheek and hugged her. "You're never second best, Sakura. Not to anyone."

The pink-haired ninja closed her eyes, reveling in the warmth of Naruto's embrace. There was so much affection in his arms, so much compassion and love. Lucky would be the woman that finally ended up belonging to such a caring man indeed.

"Thanks, Sakura." Naruto whispered into her ear. "Thank you for everything."

"No problem," Sakura replied. There were tears in her eyes, hot stinging tears of disappointment and sadness, but in the darkness, they were invisible to Naruto. She was glad he could not see them.

"That's what friends are for."

* * *

Author's Notes: 

I hope you guys are enjoying a terrific Winter break whether it is from the arduous toils of high school or the rigorous tortures of university life or the mind numbing routine of working. I know I sure am. I also hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and New Years! Goodbye 2007! It was a good one. Hello 2008!

Thanks for the reviews from last chapter. There weren't as many as usual, but several of the ones I did read were very useful, and like promised, I try my best to accommodate your guys input. One asked for more Neji and Tenten interaction, and while there wasn't a whole lot to be had in this particular chapter, it's definitely something I'll be mindful in the future. So again, if you guys have any suggestions, ideas, criticism, etc, feel free to add it in your review.

And for you guys reading the manga: sniff sniff

Be sure to review if you've gotten this far! Thanks guys.

Love,  
Me


	43. Chapter 43

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Same old same old.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty-Three: The Sewer?**

She envied the stars. The way they shimmered in the clear night sky, little beacons of sparkling light suspended in the heavens above, free of any worries or expectations except to sit there and have their beauty be worshipped by the eyes of mortals.

A wistful sigh escaped Hinata's lips as she leaned against her bedroom's window sill, gazing enviously at the stars and their resplendence. She was not one to normally entertain such angst –a characteristic reserved exclusively for those whiny poetry types who wore eye liner and cut themselves –but it was hard to not feel so unjustly oppressed, so misunderstood, and so unfairly treated when living in the home of a tyrannical despot who dictated her life. Ever since she was a small child, Hinata knew her father was an absolute control freak, but only in the past months had she truly become aware of the extent of his determination to rule every aspect of his daughter's existence. When she was five, she had thought her father mean for not allowing her cake on her own birthday because it was unladylike. Now that her father was trying his hardest to imprison and possibly kill the only boy Hinata had ever had feelings for, well, she was not quite sure there were words appropriate enough to describe the depths of his malevolence.

Hinata cast an anxious glance at her bedroom door, expecting her father to angrily barge in at any moment. It had been several hours since Hinata spied Neji returning to the estate. He was sporting, Hinata was happy to see, a rather large bruise on his cheek and a bloody nose from where Sakura had punched him. Interestingly, his neck had also peppered with a number of other small, reddish bruises. Hinata had a pretty good idea where those had come from.

When Neji told her father, Hiashi would no doubt come storming into his daughter's bedroom. He would not yell or scream. Instead, he would give her a look of scornful disappointment and coldly tell her what a disappoint she was to the family. Then he would probably install prison bars on her window.

The fact that her bedroom windows were still free of iron bars meant her father was out late again at some important dinner party or something stupid like that. No big surprise. Her father seldom returned home to spend time with his family, electing instead to bury himself in one work activity or another. That was just the way Hiashi was. Her father was loyal to Konoha and to the Hyuga clan, but sometimes Hinata wondered if he actually cared about his own family.

A soft knocking on her bedroom door made Hinata avert her gaze from the stars. She frowned. It was probably her servants. They were the only ones who ever bothered to knock in this house. Her father went anywhere he pleased and her little sister was just a pest and refused to listen to Hinata.

"Enter," Hinata said softly.

The door slowly opened, and much to Hinata's surprise, it was Neji who walked inside. He looked uncomfortable which was odd. Normally her cousin was so full of himself that his own inflated ego pushed aside any discomfort out of the picture. But tonight, though his face was the normal blank slate of casual indifference that it always was, his presence radiated a distinct aura of awkwardness.

Hinata scowled at her cousin. "Clearly my father isn't here if you're looking someone to rat to."

"I know. He's in his chambers retiring for the night." Neji replied softly.

Hinata paused, confused by her cousin's words. "My father is home?"

"As of four hours ago." Neji said with a nod. "He decided to skip dinner as he had a speech to prepare for tomorrow's council meeting."

That wasn't right. Her father never sat on anything and let it stew. No, when he found out something, her father was one to take immediate action. And certainly there was definitely no way Hiashi would have decided to not react to the events that had transpired this afternoon. But that could only mean…

"You didn't tell my father what happened in the market place," Hinata whispered.

Neji nodded again. "I have considered what you told me earlier. You are a grown Shinobi, cousin, and it is no longer my place to protect you." He stopped and seemed to have trouble coming up with the words to say next. A vein in his neck twitched erratically and he kept glancing up at the ceiling as if the answer lay there. It was an amusing sight.

Finally, he exhaled deeply and said, "I apologize."

"You apologize?"

"Yes." Neji replied tersely.

It was a confusing moment for Hinata. Part of her wanted to start crying, wrap her cousin in a big hug and bawl about how he was forgiven. The other wanted to start dancing and laugh in her cousin's face about how he was wrong and she was right. The former seemed the mature response, but the latter choice was not without its appeal either. Their entire life Neji had always been stronger, smarter, and overall better than Hinata, and he had never passed up a moment to rub it into her face. Getting one up on her arrogant, egotistic cousin was definitely something that did not happen every day, and it seemed like a waste not to savor the moment.

In the end, Hinata's more gracious side won over. "You're forgiven." She said.

Neji nodded, but instead of turning and departing like Hinata thought he would, he remained standing there.

"Was there anything else, cousin?" she asked.

If Neji had seemed anxious about something before, he definitely did now. He retreated to the door, glanced outside, raced back in and grabbed Hinata's hand. Before she could protest, he began pulling her towards the door and out into the hallway.

"What are you doing, Neji?" Hinata demanded.

"You said you wanted to see, Naruto, right?" Neji asked as he continued hauling his cousin down the passage. He cautiously opened a nearby door, peered inside, and then pulled Hinata in after him.

They found themselves in a small storage room that, judging from the cobwebs forming on the rickety wooden shelves that furnished it, was not often used. In fact, Hinata wasn't even sure she had ever been in it before.

"Well I'm going to give you that chance."

Hinata looked at her cousin in bewilderment. "S-see Naruto? B-but what about my father? And what does this storage closet have anything to do with this?"

"I'll worry about your father," Neji said. Hinata could not help but notice the lack of confidence his words held. In fact, as brave as his words were, the fear in his voice was glaring. Hinata could not say she blamed him. Were Hiashi to ever discover his nephew's duplicity, the consequences would not be pretty.

_Why are you doing this, cousin? _Hinata wondered. Why was Neji risking everything merely to help her cousin meet a boy that Neji himself disapproved of?

Neji was crafty and clever –he was a Hyuga after all, and Hinata was not entirely certain that she could trust him, cousin or not. Was this merely a part of a grander scheme, or was Neji finally showing a more humane side of him that the world seldom saw?

However, her desire to see Naruto again quickly swept aside any lingering doubts she had about Neji's sincerity.

"As for why we're here," Neji continued. "There's only one way to slip out of the estate undetected."

"Undetected? But the estate is a-"

"Fortress? I know." Her cousin replied. "But every fortress has a weak point. One of these days I'll tell your father about the Hyuga estate's weakness."

He walked over to a nearby wooden shelf and pushed it to the side. Underneath, covered in dust and dirt, was the faint outline of a rusty metal door. Neji reached down and with a grunt of exertion pried it open.

Hinata curiously peered down to see where the metal hatch led to. Almost instantly, she regretted it. The moment she came near to the opening, a horrible, rancid stench assaulted her nose. It was a repugnant odor, reminiscent of feces mixed with rotting meat. It made her wretch in disgust and stumble away from it the hatch, coughing and trying her best not to vomit. She could only think of one 

thing that produced a smell that truly awful, and the thought of actually descending into a place so foul made her feel physically ill.

"The sewer?" Hinata asked weakly.

"The sewer."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Ninja's Guide is officially online after a loooooooong hiatus. Sorry about that guys, but sometimes a long break is exactly what a story needs in order to stay fresh and creative. Hopefully the next chapters will come a little quicker than this one (and I know it's short, but I wanted to get it out anyway. Next one will be longer. Promise.) and hopefully I haven't lost too many readers during the last several months.

And what about the manga, yeah? Itachi noooooooooooooooooooooo!!


	44. Chapter 44

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Same old same old.

Summary:  
AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty-Four: Yeah, the Sewer**

"The sewer?" Naruto whimpered, his voice but a mere whisper against the torrential gurgle of running water around them. His boots sloshed loudly as he waded through the brownish muck that encircled his ankles, grimacing each time the sewage soaked through the leggings of his jumpsuit and sent a chill of revulsion down his spine.

"The sewer," Sakura replied, sparing a second to glance behind her at her friend.

Naruto beamed his flash light ahead. He could barely recognize her in the gear the two had donned for their underground voyage. Like Naruto, she was wearing her grubbiest clothes –attire she would not mind burning once their expedition was over. Additionally, her face was hidden behind a white mechanical breather, a device which was supposed to filter out some of the stench.

He could personally attest to how useless their breathers were. Upon dropping into the sewers from a man hole near Sakura's home, both had promptly spent the first ten minutes vomiting their dinner into the swift current of waste that ran underneath the streets of Konoha. After that, their noses had progressively become adjusted to the horrendous smell. They had thought about disposing of the masks a ways back as they were cumbersome and impaired their vision, but had decided against it. After all, what if the masks really were working, and in reality the sewer really stank even worst?

It was a disgusting enough of a thought to convince both Shinobi to keep their masks on.

Sakura shined her flash light, the beam of light piercing the darkness. Up ahead, the sewer branched off into two paths. She glanced at Naruto inquiringly. "Which way again?"

Naruto fumbled with his rucksack for a moment and removed a water proof map that the two had drawn before leaving Sakura's home earlier that night. "Left."

"Sure?" Sakura asked. She walked over to where Naruto was standing and peered over his shoulder.

Naruto frowned at her. "Of course I'm sure. I can tell the difference between right and left, thanks."

Sakura snorted. "I'm sure you can, but-" she grabbed the map from Naruto's hands, turned it around, and handed it back to him. "But maps are a lot easier to read when you're looking at them the right way."

"Oh." Naruto muttered sheepishly. He looked at the map again. "Then I guess we're turning right then."

"Doofus," Sakura said, punching him in the arm good naturedly.

"Doofus?" Naruto asked, walking up along side Sakura. "Who says 'doofus' anymore?"

"Well, I was going to call you an idiot, but given the spirit of our new relationship," she gave him a meaningful glance "I'm trying to be nicer to you."

Naruto squirmed self consciously. It was hard to forget that Naruto was "supposed" to be Sakura's boyfriend, or at the very least, her date, and right now it was Sakura who was volunteering to help Naruto be reunited with his crush. It was definitely one of the more awkward situations Naruto had found himself in, but much to Sakura's credit, she was playing the entire thing off rather well. Either that or she was stoically burying her hurt and anger and was just waiting to let it all explode by punching Naruto in the face. That possibly seemed incredibly likely given their past history together.

"You owe me big time for this, you know?" Sakura said as she continued trudging through the thick, festering muck. "You're buying me lunch for at least the next week."

"Wa? Sakura you know I don't have any money," Naruto whined pathetically.

"Fine, you'll polish my kunai for a month then after training."

"How about I carry your books or something?"

"Carry my books?" Sakura scoffed. "Naruto, I bet I can carry more than you can."

"No way," Naruto shot back.

"Naruto, I can punch a hole through solid concrete," Sakura explained patiently. "I think I can manage a few text books."

This good natured banter lasted for several more minutes. Or maybe it was longer than that. The sewers had a way of playing tricks with their mind. The trickle of running water, the periodic twitter of some rodent running on the pipes above, the horrible stench –it lulled the two Shinobi into an almost hypnotic trance that made them lose track of time. All the passageways looked exactly the same –cobblestone coated with a thick layer of oozing slime –but Naruto was pretty sure they had been walking for several miles now.

Naruto sighed. Venturing through the sewer had not been their first choice of course. No one in their right mind traveled through Konoha via the underground sewage system. But Naruto was certain that ANBU was still tailing him under orders from the Hokage, and nothing would ruin a surprise break in on the Hyuga estate more than an elite team of Shinobi being aware of his every move. As smelly and unpleasant as the sewers may be, security there was rather light. The entryways and the exits of the sewage system were heavily guarded against intruders, but once you were already inside Konoha, the sewers were an excellent means of getting around the city without being detected.

"We should be almost there," Naruto whispered to Sakura. He glanced at the map, shining his flash light on the water proof plastic. "We're maybe a kilometer short of the sewer right outside the mansion walls."

"Huh?" Sakura said. She sounded startled, almost as if Naruto had just told her something that completely caught her off guard. "Oh, yeah. The mansion. Right. Sure. Great."

As oblivious as Naruto normally was, even he wasn't so unobservant to not notice Sakura's strange behavior. "Hey, Sakura," he asked, shining the flash light on his friend. "What's wrong?"

It was only until Naruto's flashlight was on Sakura's face did he notice the tears welling up in her eyes. She was crying. But why? He tucked away his flash light and walked over to her, hugging her gently and allowing his friend to sob into his shoulder.

"I-I don't k-now what I'm doing here," Sakura confessed between sobs. "All my life I just wanted to like a guy who liked me too, and now just as I thought I finally found someone like that…"

"You're in the sewer helping him break into the house of his crush so he can find out if there's a chance they can get back together?"

Sakura looked up at Naruto, her pretty eyes shimmering with tears. She laughed weakly. "Yeah, I guess that's pretty much it."

"I had no right to ask you to help me with my problems," Naruto said quietly. "But dammit, Sakura. I don't' have any other choice. I need help, and you're the only one I can really trust right now. And this is something I need to know. You can understand that, right?"

"You need to know, Naruto?" Sakura asked sadly. "You couldn't just settle with your friend? With me?"

"Sakura," the blonde Shinobi protested. "I-it's not like that."

"Then how is it?" she demanded. "How is it that she's so special you're wiling to risk _both _our lives so you can see her again? How is it that she's so much more special than me?"

How could Naruto possibly explain it to Sakura when she would never understand? What could he tell her that would possibly make her feel better? She wasn't looking for a friend –she was looking for someone to love her, and Naruto could not give that to her. Not when there was still a chance that Hinata had feelings for him. Perhaps a relationship with Hinata was doomed to failure, but there no question in Naruto's mind that that was a risk he would have to take.

There was nothing he could tell Sakura to make her forgive him for his betrayal. He had made the mistake of promising something to Sakura that he could not deliver. She wanted a boyfriend, someone who could replace the void that once belonged to Sasuke. But Naruto couldn't fill that emptiness. Not yet at least.

And then something else arose in Naruto to temper his guilt. Irritation. Why was Sakura doing this? Especially now of all times. Why couldn't she have just done the smart thing and told her about the way she felt in a more convenient location, say, oh, her house and not the freaking sewer moments before breaking into Hinata's heavily guarded estate? Girls! Why did they have to be so completely irrational?

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and frowned. "You're waiting until now to bring this up?"

"Yeah. So what?" Sakura snapped. "So what if I'm finally tired of being treated as second best, something not even worth chasing after?"

"Look, Sakura," Naruto said, trying his best to hold onto the calm that Sakura had clearly lost. "I don't have time for this. We can talk later if you want, but this is something I need to do and I need your help to pull this off. Now are you going to help me or not?"

Sakura didn't say anything for a long moment, and for a second, Naruto was worried he had been a little too direct with her. She didn't deserve this. Sakura had already helped him so much, and it pained him that he was treating someone he genuinely cared for like such garbage.

"Naruto, I'll help you." She whispered her voice barely audible over the raucous noises in the sewer. "But if I help you, consider my invitation to the winter dance withdrawn."

"Withdrawn?" It was like someone punched Naruto in the stomach. True he had expected a moment like this to occur sooner or later depending on how the night ended, but somehow in all of Naruto's plans, it was him doing the dumping. Not the other way around. "B-but Sakura…"

Sakura shook her head, cutting off whatever Naruto was trying to say. "Choose Naruto. Which one is it going to be? Hinata or me?"

It surprised Naruto at how little he hesitated before he answered. As cold and heartless as it sounded, there was no doubt in his mind what he needed to do. As much as this would hurt Sakura, not doing what was necessary would only hurt them both in the long run.

"I need to see her, Sakura. I'm sorry." Naruto said. And he was. He was truly sorry.

Sakura nodded and looked away so Naruto couldn't see her tears any longer. Hot tears of anger and shame ran down her cheeks, but she kept them hidden from her friend. They made her look weak, made her look like the stupid fool that men like him and Sasuke insisted on treating her like. Using the back of her sleeve she wiped her face clean of tears, and without looking back at Naruto, began walking down the passage again.

Naruto wanted to throw up again, but this time it had nothing to do with the horrible smell of his surroundings. There was a gnawing sensation of guilt eating away at his innards, and it was entirely deserved. He had just traded his friendship with Sakura for a girl he wasn't entirely sure still liked him. A second before he had made his choice, it seemed like the perfectly acceptable action. A second later, now, Naruto wasn't so sure.

"That's fine," Sakura said dismissively.

But as Naruto watched his childhood friend depart, tears still running down her face, he knew deep down inside everything wouldn't be.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Life is getting hectic and busy again so I thought it would be better to upload another short one early rather than a long one late. Enjoy!


	45. Chapter 45

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Notice: Copyrighted! Lolz!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty Five: That Elusive Feeling of Regret**

His men were nervous, a fact which simultaneously pleased and irritated Uchiha Itachi. These men were supposedly the best of the best that the Sound village's military had to offer. They were not Shinobi, but Itachi would have thought that between his men's years of military experience and fancy machine guns and equipment, they would at least have enough backbone not to tremble in his presence. Then again, Itachi supposed that it wasn't every day that they were commanded by a man who single handedly wiped out an entire clan of talented Shinobi in a single night. They had good reason to be afraid, to fear even the very prospect of displeasing Itachi. That made Itachi smile inwardly. Respect and admiration was useless to a man like Itachi; fear, however, was a commodity he valued greatly.

"Captain," Itachi said softly. "Your men are prepared, correct?"

"Yes, sir." replied the soldier standing nearest to Itachi. They were all dressed the same in solid gray fatigues and black balaclavas that hid their faces. Harnesses of equipment were strapped around their torsos, and each of the twenty or so men that had been assigned to Itachi's command were armed with a rifle of some sorts. They were supposedly the latest and greatest in firearm technology, or that was what Itachi's captain had told him. Itachi knew very little about guns. They were archaic pieces of technology, completely obsolete against the speed, reflexes, and strength of a Shinobi, and all Itachi knew was that common folk used them to kill one another. Fortunately, for their purposes today, Itachi did not require them to do too much more than that.

Despite whatever modicum of pleasure Itachi had derived from his men's nervousness, it did little to assuage the annoyance that had been growing within him since earlier that morning. No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, Itachi could not shake the undeniable fact that his mission was a fool's errand. Even if his mission really was a crucial part of Akatsuki's master plan, there was no reason why one of the other, lesser members of the organization could not have been attached to it instead. Say, the bumbling fool, Deidara, or even that uncouth, foul mouthed moron, Hidan. Itachi was a busy man, and baby sitting a bunch of soldiers was not particularly his idea of a wise investment of his time.

Still, orders were orders, and as much as Itachi loathed his current assignment, he was wise enough to know to keep his complaints to himself. Former members of the Akatsuki who were even suspected of being discontent or not one hundred percent loyal to their group's cause had been "relieved of their command" permanently. Though Akatsuki was an alliance of Shinobi by name, it was really no secret that few of the members genuinely trusted one another. Itachi himself knew he had very few friends within Akatsuki, but enemies he had in great abundance. He had no desire to give them anything that they might be able to use as leverage against him when the time came.

Treachery and deception was all too common in Itachi's life. Betrayal was inevitable.

Itachi's eye twitched when he heard it, the soft rumble of tires treading through gravel in the distance. He fished into his pocket and removed a small pocket chronometer, his eye brows furrowing slightly in annoyance at what it told him. The watch returned into Itachi's robes, and he turned to give his captain a stern look of disapproval.

"Captain, your intelligence is wrong." Itachi said darkly. "The target is approaching."

"What?" demanded the captain incredulously. He fumbled for his binoculars and peered down the road. There was nothing in sight, of course. Even Itachi's advance scouts would not be aware of the vehicle's approach for another few minutes. A normal man could only hear and see so far. Such was their limitations; limitations that Shinobi, like Itachi, fortunately, did not share.

"I see nothing, sir."

"Have your men on standby for my commands."

"B-but there's nothing there, sir! It'd be foolish to give-"

"Captain, do as I say."

The captain did his best to repress the scowl that tugged at his lips, but Itachi was all too aware of the insubordination that welled up within the man. He was a disbeliever. A man who was a firm believer in the powers of technology and frowned upon the mystical ways of the Shinobi. He placed his faith in his guns and bombs, and doubted the abilities and power of the ninja.

He would learn soon enough.

"Yes, sir." the captain said at last. He thumbed the activator on his headset microphone and snapped out Itachi's orders. "Alpha team prepare for assault!"

Just as Itachi had said, a few minutes later, a lone van appeared on the horizon. There was nothing special looking about it, nothing to distinguish itself from any other of the hundreds of passenger vehicle that traversed this road. Regardless, Itachi knew this was the van that carried their precious cargo.

The engagement began with the thunderous roar of a gunshot. From the treetops above, one of Itachi's snipers opened fire. The lead car's window shield shattered as a bullet ripped through it. No doubt panicking, the driver slammed his foot on the acceleration and tried to turn his vehicle out of the line of fire, but to no avail. A second shot splattered the glass red as the sniper's aim placed a round in the man's face. The dead man slumped against the steering wheel, pressing down on the horn so that its raucous blaring filled the forest.

The car rolled for a few more meters, but came to a sputtering stop when another one of the sniper's bullets ripped through the car's engine and killed it. Itachi smiled. Whoever his marksmen was was talented, and Itachi valued talent. He would have to remember to get the man's name for future reference.

No sooner had the truck come to a stop, Itachi's men sprang into action. From the trees and the bushes flooded the Sound commandos. Their weapons were raised, fingers tight on the trigger waiting for the inevitable to happen. The sniper had caught the van's occupants by surprise, but now they were ready and undoubtedly armed.

"Remember," the captain said into his microphone. "He doesn't want the van damaged any more than it has to be."

The lead commando aimed his rifle at the van and shouted, "Come out with your hands up!"

Almost as if in reply, the van doors sprung open and three men barreled out, guns blazing. The lead commando never stood a chance. Before he even got a chance to squeeze a shot off, his body was ripped to bloody shreds by a hailstorm of bullets. The rest of the commandos dropped to the dirt, scurrying for cover as they exchanged gunfire with the van's guards.

From his hilltop overlooking the fight, Itachi watched with amusement. It was like watching an army of ants squabble over a tiny little morsel of food. Only with loud guns and explosions and the such.

A grenade went off, tearing a hole in the road and spraying both sides with dirt and debris. Another grenade exploded, only this time it was right beside one of the commandos. A shrill shriek filled the forest, and the man's limp body was tossed high into the air. Or at least parts of it were.

"Captain, I thought your men were the best." Itachi said blandly.

"They are, sir." The captain replied immediately. "Just give them time."

If Itachi had thought for even a moment his mission would be in jeopardy by his men's incompetence, he would have had no qualms about running in dispatching the three guards by himself. As it was, however, the mission was in no real danger. His commandos outnumbered the guards six to one. It was only a matter of time before their numbers overwhelmed the hired guns.

Sure enough, one of the guards went down shortly after. A few moments later, the other was shot when he ran out of ammunition and left himself exposed as he tried to reload.

The third, however, was proving to be difficult. He was hunkered behind the van, safe from Itachi's sniper while still managing to be well defended from the advancing commandos. He would hide, wait for the soldiers to move towards the van, and then hurl grenades or open fire at them.

By Itachi's count, he had lost almost four men to that guard alone. Interesting.

But it was only a matter of time.

The gunfight continued on for several more minutes when it happened.The man's gun jammed. While barely audible over the horn's incessant honking, the trained ear of the commandos heard the soft, but deadly_ click _of a jammed weapon.

"Move in carefully," said the captain into the microphone.

The commandos walked carefully towards the van, their weapons held high, ready to fire at a moment's notice. They had lost almost half their numbers in less than an hour. They would take no chances.

Itachi was just about to turn and leave the battlefield when he heard something that made him pause. His eyes went wide and he turned to his captain. "Tell them to retreat now!" he yelled.

"What?" snapped the captain. "Why?"

But it was too late.

"Katon Goukakyu no Jutsu!"

An explosion of fire erupted from behind the van, rushing out like a tidal wave to engulf many of the commandos in a billowing cloud of searing flames. The lucky ones in front were incinerated instantly, their bodies vaporized into ash. The others who weren't able to escape the fire were set ablaze. They fell to the ground, rolling and shrieking in agony as their bodies slowly burned. The few surviving commandos instantly fell back, too stunned and horrified by the sight of their dying comrades to do anything but stare in pure terror.

Itachi could feel the wave of heat wash over his face, and he could smell the rancid stench of burnt flesh. Amidst the screams of pain as his men burned to death, amidst their pleading for their comrades to put them out of their suffering, Itachi grinned.

One of the guards was a Shinobi. Fascinating.

The captain's mouth was gaping open, his eyes scarcely believing what they were observing. In a split second, one man, one _Shinobi _had destroyed the best of the Sound's military. It looked as though he had learned his lesson.

"Captain, call your men back," said Itachi. "I'll deal with this personally."

Without waiting for a response, Itachi leaped down from the hill and into the valley below. Holding his robes up gingerly so that they didn't trail through the dirt, he walked past the commandos who were huddled together fearfully, past the dying soldiers who vainly clawed at the air for the aid of some god who no longer cared, past the charred corpses of the men who had perished, and towards the van where his quarry lay waiting.

The guardsman lunged at Itachi as soon as he rounded the corner. A tip of a blade flashed before Itachi's eyes, but the Akatsuki member leaned back, letting the knife pass by harmlessly. The ninja took another swing at Itachi, but Itachi effortlessly stepped out of the way and knocked the knife out of the man's hands.

"Your chakra control is commendable. Not many have mastered that technique as well as you have." said Itachi. "Your hand to hand combat is rusty though."

Even unarmed, the man's fighting spirit did not wane. With a roar, he leaped at Itachi, fists swinging. There was a definite power behind the man's punches -anyone one of them would've easily caved in Itachi's skull had he allowed them to connect. He easily dodged the flurry of blows, weaving in and out of the punches with a yawn of boredom.

Heaving with exertion, the guardsman backed up, but his eyes never left Itachi's face. "I know you." He said between deep gulps of air. "I know your face from the book, Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You know who I am and yet you still fight me? Brave of you. Ill advised and foolish, but brave all the same."

"You're a murderer!" spat the guardsman. "And a traitor! I'm going to kill you!"

"Kill me?" Itachi laughed. "I think not."

He allowed the man to attack him once more. The guard threw a wild punch at Itachi's face. This time, instead of just dodging the blow, Itachi caught the man's fist and twisted the man's arm viciously around.

A loud, hideous _snap _could be heard that made even Itachi shudder, but much to the guardsman's credit, he did not cry out in pain. Instead, he stumbled away, nursing his broken arm, his eyes never leaving Itachi for a moment.

Itachi was impressed. Even though the man knew he was outmatched in every imaginable way, there was no fear in his eyes. The sign of a true Shinobi.

At this point, most of Itachi's victims would start begging for their lives. They would tell him about their families, their children, their unfulfilled dreams and ambitions that they would never get the chance to achieve, anything that they thought might convince Itachi to spare their lives. But not this man. He had only one request.

"Make it quick," whispered the guardsman. "Please."

Itachi nodded. "As you wish."

One second Itachi was there. The next he had vanished in a blur of motion. The poor guard probably never saw it coming. Itachi suddenly appeared behind the man, and with one, swift and decisive motion, snapped his neck. The man was dead before he hit the ground, just the way he had wanted it.

Itachi turned to the few commandos. They were looking at him with something akin to awe and reverence, a new respect found for their commander after that display of Shinobi prowess. "Inspect the van," he snapped.

As the soldiers rushed to carry out Itachi's bidding, Itachi knelt down beside the dead guardsman and reached into the man's flak vest. He removed a handful of kunais, a beaten up wallet, and lastly, a folded forehead protector.

Gingerly, Itachi set aside everything but the headband. This, he unfolded, and when he saw the insignia that was emblazoned into the protector's metal surface, he inwardly groaned. It was the same crest that Itachi's scratched forehead protector bore, the symbol of the leaf. The symbol of Konoha. He stroked it, feeling its smooth, metallic touch underneath his fingers. Unlike Itachi's, the dead man's protector wasn't marred by the single scratch that ran through the crest. Unlike Itachi, he was no renegade.

Carefully, Itachi raised the dead man up and wrapped the headband round his forehead and gently laid him back down. He crossed the Konoha Shinobi's arms across his chest and closed the man's eyes before standing up and walking away.

For the first time in a long time, Itachi felt something stab at his chest. It had been so long since he had felt this elusive emotion that it took him a while to recognize what it was. It was regret.

"Itachi!" shouted the captain. He was running down the hill, red faced with anger. "You got my men killed! Fourteen of them! This will be on my official report!"

"Captain," Itachi said softly, oblivious to the captain's rage. "You told me there would be mercenaries defending this convoy. Not Konoha Shinobi."

"What difference does it make?" spat the captain. "We're going to be at war with them anyway in a month!"

"Captain, you misinformed me."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"No more words," whispered Itachi. He closed his eyes. "Just pain."

His eyes snapped open, but this time, their normal onyx hue were washed away in a sea of red. An intricate swirl of black lines danced across his irises, forming a hypnotizing pattern that formed the Uchiha's most sacred technique.

"I've had enough of you, " Itachi said, staring the captain in the eyes. "Now suffer."

The captain looked confused for a moment, unsure of Itachi's meaning, but his confusion quickly gave way as Itachi's Sharingan took control of his mind. He screamed in pain and collapsed to his knees. A second later he was on the ground, writhing in pain, his limbs twitching erratically as blood began dribbling from his mouth.

Itachi vaguely wondered how long the captain would last. He had created in the captain's mind a hallucination of being stabbed repeatedly, over and over and over and over for the next twenty-four hours. It was all in his head, of course, with no actual physical damage being inflicted, but the captain's mind could not tell the difference. The painful sensation of blade tearing through flesh was all too real to Itachi's victims, and it would only be a matter of time before their body could not withstand the mental assault and simply shut down entirely.

Itachi closed his eyes, and when they opened again, they were normal.

It was only then did he realize that the soldiers were staring in horror at their dead captain. Slowly, they looked fearfully at Itachi. It was amusing how none of them looked him in the eye.

Itachi scowled. "What the hell are you looking at?"

* * *

Author's Notes

Sorry it took me so long to upload a new chapter, but I've been busy and such. New apartment, new job, etc. etc. Won't bore you with the details.

Keep reading the story though because things are going to start picking up soon!

And as always, review! Chapters will come faster (faster than a month that is!) if I think people are still reading!


	46. Chapter 46

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Notice: Copyrighted! Lolz!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty Six: The Kiss**

There were several reasons why the sewers of Konoha were seldom traveled. Even if it were somehow were capable of ignoring the rancid stench emitting from the flowing river of festering sewage that ran beneath Konoha, there were still the foul legions of the city's underbelly that had to be contented with. Blood sucking bats, mutant rats the size of large dogs, spiders that were capable of devouring small animals with their venomous fangs –the dangers that lurked in the sewers were vast and varied. It was even said that the criminal underworld, the Yakuza, used the sewers to smuggle contraband throughout the city –the vast network of pipes and crawlspaces that comprised the underground labyrinth extended to virtually every part of Konoha. Accidentally run into a smuggling party while they were on the job and you were as good as dead. Gangsters were not much in the business of leaving witnesses alive.

Neji and Hinata had been well aware of the risks before they had descended into the underground world of Konoha, and had prepared accordingly. Both were now wearing the gear of Konoha Chunin complete with flack vests laden with stuffed equipment pouches. Breathing masks strapped securely across their faces and flashlights in hand, they slowly waded through the thick current of waste and sludge.

"Do you think the rumors are true?" Hinata whispered softly. Through the filters built into her breathing apparatus, her voice sounded strangely mechanical and artificial. "About the mutants?"

Neji glared at her angrily. Instantly, Hinata shut her mouth and blushed furiously. Only two minutes into their underground venture and already she had broken one of the rules Neji had told her before they had climbed down the ladder.

Do not speak. Ever.

As far as the sewer mutants went, they were urban legends that kids talked about at sleepovers. An underground race of exiled villagers that were forced to seek refuge in the sewers to avoid detection, the mutants had lived underground so long that they sewage had caused them to mutate into deformed monstrosities. Extra heads, third arms, fangs and claws were teeth and finger nails once grew the sewer mutants would devour any children foolish enough to enter into their domain.

Neji was pretty sure they didn't exist. They were just myths. Or at least he hoped they were. Either way, he wasn't about to take any chances. Certainly not while Hinata, the heir to the Hyuga estate, was under his protection.

It was a stupid decision bringing Hinata down here, a stupid choice to put both their safeties in jeopardy merely to appease his cousin's juvenile fancies. The rational side of Neji knew this all too well. And yet here they were, underneath the streets of Konoha, wading through a river of muck amongst the foul creatures in the world all so that Hinata could be reunited with a dangerous boy whose true allegiances were still questionable at best.

So why was he doing this?

It was a question that had been nagging at Neji for quite some time now, and in all honesty, he had no real answer. No real justification for his glaring dereliction in his duty to keep Hinata out of harm's way. He would never be able to explain what convinced him to do something so foolish; all he could really say was that helping Hinata just felt like the right thing to do.

_You're getting soft, _Neji rebuked himself softly, _when the tears of a girl are enough to manipulate you._

He signaled Hinata to stop, raised his flashlight and peered ahead. It was pitch black underneath the streets of Konoha, and even with a flashlight, it was still incredibly difficult to see where they were going. It certainly didn't help matters that every tunnel was identical to the next. Though Neji had absolutely no desire to stay in the sewers a second longer than needed, he knew the dangers of moving too hastily. One wrong turn in these sewers and they could be lost for hours trying to find their way back.

Neji frowned and lowered his flashlight, turning it off and stowing it away. As much as he hated to admit it, there was a distinct possibility that he might have made a wrong turn a mile or so back. There was only one real way of finding out for sure.

"Byakugan," he whispered.

There was that familiar flash of light and the dull pain in the side of his head as chakra rushed to his eyes, but it faded quickly. A world of darkness greeted him when his vision returned, but intermitted scattered throughout his visions were little swirling beacons of light. Behind him, Hinata had vanished into a swirling pattern of blue chakra, and above them, he could vaguely make out the pattern of a Konoha Shinobi patrolling the streets above.

The patrolmen made the same route every night and would eventually pass by Sakura's home where Naruto was supposed to be staying. All Neji had to do was watch where he headed and then follow his lead. Getting into Sakura's home should be as easy as clambering out through a sewer hole and getting Hinata up to the second floor. It would be a piece of cake compared to wading through a river of stinking excrements.

Neji was preparing to deactivate his Byakugan when something out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention.

In the distance, not more than a mile in front of them, there were three chakra signatures burning brightly amidst the sea of blackness. Two of them were normal -swirling masses of blue chakra energy, but the third was orange and burned so bright that it was almost blinding. Neji had only seen such a unique chakra signature once and he knew exactly to whom it belonged.

Forgetting his own rule for a moment, Neji whispered, "No way."

"What?" Hinata asked, tugging her cousin's sleeve. "What?"

"It's Naruto."

* * *

"Which way do we go?" Sakura asked, a scowl marring her features.

It was an excellent question; it was just a shame that Naruto had no idea what the answer was. In all the ten minutes of hasty planning that Naruto had invested in this brilliant scheme, he had to admit that this was definitely not one of the many possible dilemmas he had considered.

"A fork in the road," muttered Naruto darkly. Indeed, a few feet away of them, the sewer branched off into two separate paths. Only one lead towards the Hyuga estate, but which one was the correct one was beyond the bewildered Shinobi. He could feel Sakura glaring disapprovingly at him, but in all fairness, how was he supposed to know that they were going to run into something like this? It wasn't like he spent his free time hanging out down here.

He glanced down at their map, hoping that it would give him an answer that wasn't there. The map had been drawn with the assumption that the sewer was as linear as the streets that ran above it; neither had really considered it would be any more complex than that. An oversight, indeed, but one that Naruto couldn't allow slowing them down.

Sakura glanced down at her watch. "We don't have much time. What should we do?"

"We're close to where we need to head back to the surface," said Naruto. "If we haven't made any more mistakes drawing this map there should be a ladder no more than a few hundred feet down either of these tunnels."

"That's a pretty big 'if'," quipped Sakura with a derisive snort.

"I think we should split up and search each tunnel and then meet back up here in five minutes. Shouldn't take any longer than that to find out which tunnel is the right one. What do you think?"

Sakura shrugged indifferently. "Fine. Whatever."

Without waiting for Naruto to decide which passage she should venture down, Sakura set off down the left tunnel. She also managed to bump into his shoulder hard enough to bruise it as she passed by; it was an act that Naruto was pretty sure was entirely deliberate.

Naruto scowled at Sakura as she disappeared into the darkness. Ever since he and Sakura had quarreled earlier her mood had soured considerably. He wasn't expecting her to be thrilled about their abrupt break up, but he didn't really think she would be so immature about it either.

Still, he was grateful she hadn't left him to complete his mission by himself. Any other pissed off ex-girlfriend would have probably gladly left him high and dry all alone for the sewer mutants to devour.

Naruto wished life weren't so complicated. But obstacles and being a Shinobi just seemed to go hand in hand –it was a lifestyle that almost seemed to attract trouble. Whether it was a troublesome romance or an enemy ninja trying to kill you, the ways of the ninja were turbulent indeed.

Stowing away the map back into his rucksack, Naruto was about ready to go down his own passageway when he heard something. At first, he thought it was just his ears playing tricks on him, but then he heard it again. It was the soft plash of water as it was displaced by movement, the subtle but obvious change in the sewage's current; the unmistakable sound of approaching footsteps.

For a moment Naruto thought Sakura was returning, but then he realized it wasn't one set of footsteps that broke the silence, but two. Slowly, quietly, he drew a kunai from his equipment pouch and prepared to face whatever unknown danger lurked ahead.

The footsteps were approaching, growing louder with each passing moment. Seconds ticked away agonizingly slowly as Naruto waited impatiently for the faceless threat to emerge from the tunnel.

Was it the Yakuza? Or sewer mutants? It was incredibly uncommon for Konoha Shinobi to be in the sewers so the former two options were incredibly likely. There was, of course, always the possibility that some wayward students like himself and Sakura were using the sewers to travel clandestinely around the village, but what were the odds of that happening?

He wished Sakura were here. As brave as Naruto liked to pretend to be, he had to admit, he always felt a little more courageous when he had someone like Sakura with him. The knowledge that someone who could punch holes through solid concrete was backing up was very confidence inspiring.

The footsteps continued to grow in volume. Its raucous splashing echoed noisily in the sewer's silence, resounding off the contoured tunnels and sending a shiver down Naruto's spine.

He tensed his muscles and his fists clenched tightly around the grip of his steel dagger. It was only a matter of time…

A shadowy figure, formless and shrouded in the darkness, emerged from the tunnel's entrance, and without hesitation Naruto attacked. He jumped forward, prepared to wrestle his assailant to the ground and demand answers. Before he could even reach them, however, something grabbed the collar of his shirt and he found himself tossed into the sewage.

Naruto yelped in surprise and instantly regretted it as he swallowed a mouthful of sewage. He struggled to his feet, choking and coughing as he tried to propel the foul liquid from his system. Soaked with waste and foul god-knows-what dripping from his clothes and hair, Naruto stumbled backwards away from his assailant, trying his best not to be sick right there and completely lose whatever semblance of dignity he still retained.

It didn't work. He took a step and wretched all over the place, spewing the waste he had swallowed back into the stream of sewage that flowed around his ankles.

"God you're pathetic," said Neji. He flashed his flashlight into Naruto's face. "Idiot."

"Neji?" Naruto asked, shielding his eyes from the bright ray. His own flashlight was gone, lost somewhere beneath the current. There was no way in hell he was going to fish around in it to find it.

"And me," came Hinata's voice.

"Hinata?"

Hinata giggled softly, blushing furiously in the darkness.

"What're you guys doing here?" exclaimed Naruto. He glared at Neji. "And why did you do that?"

"First off, would you shut up?" Neji hissed. "I think you've made quite enough noise as it is."

"Sorry," Naruto whispered. "What're you guys doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same question." Neji replied.

"I'm trying to sneak into your guys house," answered Naruto.

"Oh, we're trying to-" Neji blinked, and his eyes furrowed suspiciously. "What the hell are you two doing trying to break into the Hyuga estate?"

Naruto couldn't help but grin. This was hardly the reunion he had been expecting. Walking over to Hinata, he draped an arm over her shoulder, ignoring the glare of disapproval he received from Neji. "I came to see you, Hinata."

"Y-you were going through all this trouble f-for me?" stammered Hinata. The mere touch of Naruto's arm around her was enough to send her heart racing. She could feel blood rushing to her face, and she had to focus on not fainting. Fainting right now would be a very bad thing.

Naruto nodded and turned so he was looking her in the eye. "There are so many things I want to say to you, and I know now probably isn't the best time, but…"

What Naruto was going to say was interrupted as Hinata abruptly leaned forward. Slowly, she pulled off her breathing apparatus and gestured for Naruto to do the same. Hesitantly he did, removed his air filtering mask and grinned at her.

"What's up?" he asked, curious.

And then Hinata kissed him.

The kiss was so sudden, so spontaneous, so entirely unexpected that Naruto almost jumped back. Instead, he closed his eyes and returned the kiss, pressing his inexperienced but greedy lips firmly against hers and losing himself momentarily in a world of utter warmth and complete bliss.

Naruto's hands wandered to embrace Hinata as they kissed, pulling her closer to him just in case she were to slip away and be lost to him yet again. He had fought too hard for them to be separated; this time they would be together no matter what.

He never expected his first real kiss would be like this, covered in puke and sewage and surrounded by a river of foul, stinking waste. He could sense Neji's presence nearby. Undoubtedly he was staring off into the distance, doing his best to ignore the sight of his cousin making out with one of their classmates. But it didn't matter to Naruto if his first kiss wasn't ideal.

It was still perfect.

It was Neji's loud coughing that finally interrupted their kiss. Sheepishly, Naruto let go of Hinata and stepped away. She smiled, her face flushed so brightly red that he could almost make out her beautiful features in the darkness.

"Well this is all good and everything," said Neji tersely. "But I think it'd be best if we relocate somewhere else before we continue celebrating."

"Aw, Neji, do you want a kiss too?" Naruto teased.

"Shut it, Neji snapped impatiently. "While you two children have clearly forgotten what a precarious position we're in, I haven't. Now if you're quite through eating each other's faces…"

Naruto and Hinata giggled and exchanged looks. They had a lot to talk about.

Neji glared angrily at both of them. "We really should be going."

"Fine, fine, fine," Naruto agreed. "I'll go get Sakura."

Neji spun around and looked at him sternly. "Just Sakura?" he demanded. "No one else is down here with you?"

"Uh, just Sakura." Replied Naruto. "Why?"

"Naruto," Hinata told him apprehensively. "We saw three chakra signatures while we coming to meet you. You, Sakura, and…"

Suddenly, a loud piercing scream filled the sewers, resounding ominously throughout the tunnels.

The bright ray of happiness Naruto had been savoring was instantly eclipsed by a billowing cloud of dread and terror. He knew who that scream belonged to.

Without thinking, without hesitating, without waiting for Hinata and Neji, Naruto turned and sprinted down the tunnel Sakura had gone down. He heard Hinata yelling at him to wait, but he couldn't. He willed his feet to move faster, begging them, pleading them to carry him to Sakura as fast as his body could stand.

He had selfishly brought Sakura down here and placed her in danger. He had been the one who recommended they split up despite the fact that it was a dumb idea. If anything happened to her, he was entirely responsible.

"Please be safe, Sakura," Naruto whispered underneath his breath. He would never forgive himself if she wasn't. Never.

"Please be safe."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Only took me a month to write this chapter which is actually not too bad given how long it's taken me to update this story in the past. Hope you enjoy it!

Oh, and I do definitely read your guys reviews and take your comments into consideration! I actually got some great feedback from left chapter which I'm definitely using to help improve my writing. You might not notice it right away, but I definitely do acknowledge everything that you guys contribute! Thanks!

Also, I'm sponsoring a small giveaway this chapter. I ordered a Naruto headband from Ebay recently but was mailed the wrong one. Instead of returning it, I decided to give it away to one of you guys.

Just drop a review for this chapter and let me know how long you've been reading and what you like about the story. Use a valid email in your review (don't list it in the body of the review though) so I can contact you – winners will be randomly drawn but please don't enter more than once. The headband isn't THAT nice.

More details are available on my xanga (link is in my profile): www(dot)xanga(dot)com(back slash)ninjaguide


	47. Chapter 47

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Notice: This is a copyright notice. Cool, right?

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty Seven: Underground Intruders**

Only a few minutes had past since Sakura and Naruto parted ways, and already Sakura was feeling slightly guilty about the less than pleasant nature of her departure. As much of a knucklehead as Naruto was, she wasn't quite sure he deserved the level of animosity that she had decided to show him. It was true that he had so unceremoniously dumped her, leaving her embarrassed, hurt, and dateless for the upcoming dance, and it was true that she had every right to be angry with him. However, intermixed with her hurt and anger was something else, something more elusive that prevented Sakura from being truly mad at that retard of a classmate who she periodically called her friend.

She thought on this as she trudged through the thick sewage, her flashlight dancing around the darkness and illuminating a path for her to follow. Her boot landed on something soft and squishy, and a second later a very unpleasant stench gave her a pretty idea of what she had stepped on. Sakura scowled. As indecisive as she was about her feelings for Naruto, one thing she was positive about was that he owed her big time for this crap.

With a weary sigh she continued on and lamented that she would probably have to even burn her boots once they returned to the surface. Tomorrow, Sakura planned on confronting Naruto and make him pay for her to get a makeover; no matter of cleaning or scrubbing on her own was going to remove this stench before the dance.

Then again, she didn't even have a date anymore for the dance, and it would be humiliating beyond belief for her to show up alone. She had teased Ino mercilessly for going with Shikamaru, but if she arrived with no date, it would be Ino who would get the last laugh.

"Maybe Sasuke hasn't gotten a date yet," Sakura mused softly to herself. _Yeah, right. _She thought bitterly. That ship had sailed and Sakura had been stupid enough not to get onboard when she had the chance. No doubt Sasuke had found a new date within minutes of Sakura turning him down.

At first, Sakura had turned down Sasuke. Then Sasuke had turned down Sakura. And now, Sakura had turned down Sasuke only for Naruto to dump her.

Life, it seemed, was not without a generous allowance for irony.

Sakura flicked her flashlight back and forth a few more times. There was no ladder in sight, and judging from the way the tunnel continued to stretch on without break, it looked as though nothing lay ahead either. She had chosen the wrong tunnel.

A quick glance at her watch told her she had far surpassed the five minutes Naruto had given her; Sakura had been so lost in her thoughts that she must have walked far further than she had planned. By now, Naruto was probably impatiently waiting for her. He was so desperate to see his stupid girlfriend after all.

_Now you're just being immature, _Sakura scolded herself with a frown. She should be happy for Naruto that he had decided who he truly had feelings for even if that someone didn't end up being her. Whatever else Naruto might be to her, he was still her friend and friend's always supported one another no matter what.

Sakura had turned around and was getting ready to head back to meet Naruto when she heard a noise behind her. She spun around, her flashlight searching for the source of the sound, but it found nothing.

Now alert, Sakura drew a kunai from her pouch and slowly scanned the area. The noise had been faint, barely audible, but it had sounded a lot like a footstep. It couldn't be Naruto –the bumbling dolt couldn't disguise his footsteps worth a damn.

A few moments passed and her search yielded nothing. "Huh," she muttered. "Maybe it was just a rat."

She turned around again, but before she could take another step, she heard the noise again. It was louder this time, closer, and completely unmistakable. Someone was down here with her.

"Who's there?" she demanded, holding her kunai out threateningly. "I'm a trained Konoha Shinobi so if you don't want to get hurt I suggest you leave immediately!"

She heard something rush past her to the left, and something smashed into her hands, knocking her flashlight and kunai into the sewage. Sakura yelped in surprise and reached for another dagger, but before she could, something from the darkness grabbed her arm and twisted it violently behind her back.

She cried out in pain and fear washed over the young Shinobi. She couldn't see her assailant in the darkness, but they were strong. Even with her freakishly supernatural strength, as hard as she tried, she couldn't wrestle free of the iron clad that enclosed her wrists. An arm wrapped around her waist, and she found herself pulled tightly against her mysterious attacker.

"Whoever you are you're making a big mistake," Sakura hissed. "Help is on its way right now you sick fu-"

Sakura's words were cut short as the tip of a sharp blade was pressed against her throat.

"Scream for me," a voice whispered into Sakura's ear. It was soft, devoid of any aggressiveness or hostility, but nonetheless it sent a chill down the captured Shinobi's spine. "Scream."

"What?" Sakura exclaimed incredulously.

The point of the knife pressed harder against Sakura's throat, drawing a small rivulet of blood that streamed down her flesh. Sakura whimpered in fear. Her attacker was too strong for her to break free, and even if she tried, she was pretty sure he would kill her without hesitation. But at the same time, she couldn't call for Naruto. They would both just end up dead that way.

"I said scream for me," the voice hissed. "Scream or I'll cut your eyes out."

"Never," Sakura replied.

The man twisted the knife in his hand and brought it down into the middle of Sakura's left shoulder, burying the blade to the hilt. "Now scream for me."

For a second, Sakura felt nothing except the dull impact as the blade tore into her flesh. But then her nerves recovered from the shock of the unexpected blow, and a pain like nothing Sakura had ever endured ripped through her body.

She clenched her teeth together, trying her best to not allow her pain to betray Naruto, but it was impossible. An explosion of agony erupted in Sakura's head, blinding her in an explosion of white searing pain. Despite her efforts to keep her mouth shut, she screamed in anguish, a loud, piercing scream that resonated noisily throughout the sewers.

"Thank you," the voice said. Another knife was produced and pressed against Sakura's throat again. "That was lovely, yeah?"

"You bastard," Sakura snarled. "I'm going to kill you, you prick!"

"I think not," said the man. "Not silence lest I decide to carve up that pretty face of yours."

It didn't take long for Naruto to arrive; judging from the stampede of footsteps that preceded his appearance it sounded as if he had sprinted. Sakura expected no less from Naruto. As obtuse, oblivious, and stupid as Naruto could be sometimes, he was the most faithful and loyal ally a ninja could ask for. Also in typical Naruto fashion, however, he charged in blindly, ready for a fight but not at all prepared for one.

He didn't even have his flashlight anymore, Sakura noticed with dismay. How the hell could he have lost his flashlight already?

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted. "Where are you?"

"Naruto!" screamed Sakura. "Get out of here! There's-"

Sakura's captor pressed the knife firmly against her throat, silencing the pink haired ninja.

Suddenly, an explosion of glowing flames erupted in the darkness, illuminating the tunnel with a ghostly green light. Neji and Hinata had arrived, and in their hands were burning flares. Slowly advancing to stand beside Naruto, they tossed their flares into the sewers and drew kunai from their equipment pouches. Even with the torches submerged in liquid waste, they continued to burn brightly, dispelling the darkness and giving the Konoha Shinobi just enough light to see their opponent.

The man holding Sakura hostage was clearly a Shinobi. He wore a flack vest laden with all manners of serrated knives and throwing stars, a black balaclava concealed his face, but the forehead protector around his head bore no insignia of affiliation. He could be a renegade Shinobi freelancing for the Yakuza as an enforcer. Or, in a worse circumstance, he could even be a spy tasked with reconnaissance of Konoha's sewers.

Whoever he was, he was clearly not without skill. He had managed to overpower Sakura which was no small task indeed.

It was then that Naruto noticed the gruesome wound in Sakura's shoulder and the cuts on her neck. He gnashed his teeth together, trying to suppress the blazing rage that had suddenly erupted in his soul. Already he could hear the Kyubi whispering in his ear, and he considered it a miracle that the demon fox hadn't already wrestled control away from him already. No matter how badly Naruto wanted to save Sakura, he would have to keep his emotions in check. Accidentally releasing the Kyubi would be disastrous.

"Let. Her. Go. Now!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto be quiet," Neji said calmly.

Neji raised his hands to show that he carried no weapon, and slowly approached the man. "Look," he said softly. "We don't want any trouble. Just let the girl go and we'll go our own ways."

The man seemed to consider the offer, but then shook his head. "I don't think I like that deal. See, when I release the girl, you're just going to kill me anyway."

The older Hyuga shook his head. "We're not interested in killing anyone. We just want our friend back."

Carefully, Neji took another step toward Sakura's captor, but as soon as he did the knife wielding Shinobi pressed the knife even harder against Sakura's throat.

"Back off!" he warned. "Take another step and I'll cut this bitch's throat."

"Even if you do kill her," Neji said. "You'll still have to deal with all three of us."

The man chuckled menacingly. One hand holding the knife securely against Sakura's throat, he used his other hand to unfasten his flack vest and with one dramatic motion, threw it open so that Neji could see what he was wearing underneath.

"Don't you think I'm prepared for that, yeah?" said the masked man.

"Oh you have to be shitting me," muttered Naruto incredulously.

Strapped to the man's torso was what their textbooks would call a "suicide vest" –a vest literally comprised of bricks of heavy explosives all rigged to a small remote on the Shinobi's belt. Naruto wasn't an expert with explosives by any means, but he could easily tell that the man was wearing enough to easily kill himself, Sakura, and everyone in the immediate area.

"Why the hell are you wearing a bomb?" demanded Naruto. "What are you? Stupid?"

"Stupid?" The ninja snapped. He reached down and caressed the bombs strapped to his body. His fingers ran across each brick of explosive gingerly, almost lovingly. "There's nothing stupid about surrounding your body with art and beauty. But I couldn't expect a simpleton like you to appreciate something like that, yeah?"

Sakura's captor focus returned to Neji. "Now back off. Unless you want your buddies coming down here and scraping all of us off the wall that is."

Neji didn't move. What the man was doing in the sewers with pounds of explosives strapped to his chest Neji could only speculate, but one thing was for sure: if they adhered to Sakura's captor's demands, Sakura would die as soon as her usefulness expired.

"We're not moving," Neji said. "Please, let's just discuss this. I'm sure if we stop and-"

The man sighed. "You know you're boring me, yeah?"

The masked man's hand moved, a bare gesture that Naruto could barely follow, and a knife whipped through the air straight towards Neji. It was only Neji's fast reflexes that kept the knife from slamming into his forehead; instead it only grazed his cheek.

A stream of blood streaming from his cheek, Neji glared at the man. "That was a mistake."

"No you're making the mistake," the masked Shinobi said. "You're the one wasting my time. Now I'm going to count to three and if none of you move by then, I'm going to kill her and then I'm going to kill all of us. One…"

Naruto and Hinata glanced at Neji, their eyes begging him for some kind of plan. Neji was a prodigy child, one of the best Shinobi in the academy. If anyone could devise an amazing plan to save Sakura it would be him. But Neji could only shake his head hopelessly in response.

"Two…"

Neji began to back away, slowly taking steps back down the way they came. He gestured for Naruto and Hinata to do the same. Hinata did, retreating to join her cousin, but Naruto, however, defiantly remained where he was.

"Naruto!" Neji shouted. "What're you doing?"

Naruto looked back at his two friends and winked. "Looks like it's up to me to save the day."

* * *

"Looks like it's up to me to save the day," said Naruto.

_No, Naruto, no! _Sakura wanted to scream at him, to shout at him to stop being such a hero and do the smart thing and run. She wasn't afraid for her life –a Shinobi was always prepared for death. There was no reason for Naruto to get himself killed also trying to be a hero.

But deep inside Sakura knew that Naruto would sooner die himself than to abandon a teammate. He was too loyal to ever leave a friend behind.

"Three!" the man shouted.

Sakura felt the sharp touch of steel against her neck, felt the pressure of its tip increase as her captor prepared to cut her throat open. She closed her eyes. Surprisingly, she felt none of the remorse or regret that she assumed would precede her death.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a voice from behind them.

Sakura's eyes widened. That was Naruto's voice.

The knife wielding Shinobi tried to spin around, but he couldn't move fast enough while holding Sakura. There was a blur of orange out of the corner of Sakura's eye, and a fist smashed into the side of the masked man's head. His grip loosened as he reeled back, stunned and dazed by the blow, and it was all the opportunity Sakura needed.

She twisted away from the knife's point, but she didn't get very far away before the sudden pain in her shoulder caused her to stumble. Her foot faltered, and before she could recover her balance, she tripped and fell…

…right into Naruto's waiting arms.

Sakura looked up into his cerulean eyes, still bewildered at what had just transpired. He was here, holding her in his arms, but at the same time he was over there…

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked.

"H-how…" Sakura stuttered as Naruto helped her to her feet. She looked behind them and saw that her captor was busy exchanging blows with not one Naruto, but a dozen. There was a small army of the wise cracking blonde ninjas, bouncing back and forth. One would disappear into a cloud of smoke when the intruder caught him with a knife, but for every one that fell, two took its place. "Shadow clones?"

"You know it," Naruto said. "I sent a few down the tunnel ahead of you. Just in case."

"Y-you did?" Sakura wasn't sure what was more shocking. The unexpected turn of events or the fact that Naruto actually had the foresight to plan this.

Naruto nodded, but now that Sakura was safe, his attention was no longer focused on her. He had to concentrate on one thing now: making sure that the intruder didn't get a chance to activate his bomb vest.

"Neji, get Hinata and Sakura out of here and go get help!" Naruto shouted. "I'll keep him busy until reinforcements get here!"

For once, Neji didn't question Naruto and hurriedly ushered the two girls away. As much as he wanted to stay and help Naruto fight, it would be foolish to send Hinata and Sakura into the sewers by themselves. They had encountered one intruder; there was no guarantee that some of his friends weren't nearby.

Naruto made sure that Neji and the girls were had disappeared from sight before he turned to face his opponent again. He had lied to Neji. He had no intention of waiting until reinforcements came. The more people showed up to help, the more people would die if those explosives detonated. No, Naruto was going to end this before anyone else got hurt because of his stupidity.

"Do you really think you can beat me?" the man demanded as his knives hacked through another of Naruto's clones. "I'm not even going to waste my explosives on someone like you! I'll just gut you instead!"

Naruto only smiled. He reached up and adjusted his forehead protector, tightening it. His fingers unconsciously traced around the emblem on it –the crest of the village of the Leaf. It was said to die in defense of the village was the greatest honor a Shinobi could ask for, but Naruto wasn't quite ready for that honor yet. He still needed to become the Hokage after all first.

"We tried things Neji's way," Naruto said. "Now we're going to do things my way."

Another wave of clones assaulted the intruder, but he easily cut them down. A flurry of kicks and punches flew past his head as he ducked in and out of the onslaught, his knife flashing in the darkness, claiming the brief life of one shadow clone after the next. More and more kept spilling into the fray, sacrificing their lives in huge, billowing clouds of smoke.

Another dozen clones fell to the intruder's swift knife, but Naruto didn't care. The smoke was growing thicker and thicker with each clone that perished. He waited a few more moments until the smoke was so dense that it was impossible to see through, and then he acted.

Kunai in hand, he ran down the tunnel and leaped into the cloud of smoke.

Naruto's body tackled the intruder, sending both of them splashing into the sewage. He hefted his kunai up, and slammed it down. At the very last second, though, the masked man rolled to the side and Naruto's knife stabbed harmlessly into the side of the intruder's bomb vest.

Before Naruto could strike again, however, he felt something slam into his stomach. He glanced down at his torso and saw the hilt of a knife protruding from his body. A pool of blood was forming around it, soaking through his shirt.

"Oh shit," Naruto muttered weakly. His shadow clones stopped their attack and looked at their master in confusion. One by one they started to disappear, vanishing into clouds of smoke as Naruto lost control of his chakra.

The intruder roughly pushed Naruto away and scrambled to his feet.

Lying there on the ground, surrounding by stinking sewage, Naruto could only stare at the knife in his stomach. He touched the pommel gently. It didn't even really hurt that much. His head was starting to feel a little light and his vision was beginning to blur slightly, but other than that he didn't even feel any pain.

"You really thought that plan would work, yeah?" the man haughtily asked.

The intruder peered down at Naruto and whipped off his mask. For a minute, Naruto thought it was a woman underneath the mask, but then Naruto realized it was just a very androgynous looking man staring down at him. Long, flowing blonde hair draped casually across his young, eerily feminine face, Naruto's opponent stared down at the boy with barely constrained glee.

"You really thought you could stab me like that, yeah?" The man gloated.

Naruto chuckled softly, blood spilling from his lips with each laugh. He wiped his palm across his lips; it came away covered in crimson. That couldn't be good.

The blonde haired Shinobi grinned at the masked man. "Do you really think stabbing you was my plan?"

Naruto raised his hand high into the air so that the intruder could see what he was holding. In his hand was small metal object. It looked suspiciously like a remote.

"What the-"

Upon realizing what Naruto held, the man panicked and looked down at his vest. The remote that had been nestled in his belt was gone. Frantically, he reached the fastenings on his vest, desperate to free himself from the explosives that were strapped around his body. He swore loudly, jerking wildly at the buckles that kept the vest in place that refused to budge.

Naruto could only smile. When he "missed" with his kunai, he had smashed the masked ninja's vest buckles shut. The only way he was going to get that vest off of him was to cut his way out.

The masked man was still wrestling with his vest, cursing incoherently. He pulled at the fabric, trying to use his strength to rip apart the thick fabric in a desperate bid to escape the inevitable.

Naruto's finger hovered over the detonator button on the remote. His initial plan would have been to run away before setting off the bombs, but it was too late for that. His body was numb and he couldn't even feel his legs anymore. That was probably a bad thing.

Sakura and the rest were safe. That was all that really mattered now.

"I told you wearing a vest full of explosives was a stupid idea," Naruto told the man.

He had to do it. Already the masked intruder had managed to cut away half the vest; Naruto couldn't risk letting the man get away. There was no telling if he had a backup detonator somewhere, and he couldn't risk letting anyone else get hurt because of him.

He pressed the button.

* * *

Author's Notes

As promised, here's Chapter 47. I'm going to give that little contest thing another week or so before picking a winner. Not as many people entered as I was hoping. Oh, and if you're reading this, be sure to drop a quick review if you get the chance!

P.S  
Does anyone know how to format their documents so that the upload recognizes double spacing?


	48. Chapter 48

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Notice: Copyrighted! Lolz!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty Eight: Paradise Lost **

Naruto was in heaven. Or that was the only reason that came readily to mind to explain the endless expanse of white that stretched before him. But the eternal pain of whiteness was all that was there. No nimbus clouds, no gates of gold, no winged angels with their trumpets, no bearded old men vindictively casting newcomers into hell. If this was heaven, it was hardly what Naruto expected it to be. Not that his expectations were founded on any real prior education; theological studies was a class Naruto seldom bothered attending during his formative years in school.

Still, he couldn't help but be disappointed. If this was supposed to last an eternity, this was going to be quite boring.

No sooner had his mind entertained the idea, the world around him transformed. His blank surroundings shimmered, and suddenly the world of white was replaced with a tropical forest. Palm trees stretched as far as the eye could see, and in the distance, Naruto could hear the chatter of a thousand exotic creatures. The screech of monkeys, the proud roar of lions –the chorus of a menagerie beyond imagination echoed in the jungle.

Cautiously, Naruto touched one of the trees. His fingers gently traced its bark, feeling the callous touch against his fingers. They certainly seemed real enough.

Curiosity quickly outweighing any trepidation of venturing out into a magical jungle, Naruto stepped into the forest. He had walked for only a few minutes when he encountered a small clearing ahead past a small cluster of trees. Naruto was about to head forward when he paused suddenly. He heard voices. Female voices. They were giggling. And was that water splashing?

His natural curiosity once again getting the better of him, Naruto pushed the trees aside and entered into the clearing.

"What the hell?" Naruto gasped aloud and his mouth dropped open in amazement.

Hinata and Sakura, both wearing the skimpiest bikinis Naruto had ever seen, were playing in a nearby pond. They were splashing each other with water, giggling and allowing the sun to radiate off of their shapely and scantly clad bodies. It had to be the most beautiful sight Naruto had ever seen.

"What're you waiting for, Naruto?" Sakura asked as her hands seductively roamed her voluptuous body. "Join us."

"Or are you just going to stand there and stare?" chimed in Hinata.

Naruto nodded dumbly and hastily joined them. He slid into the pond and was amazed to find that the water wasn't too cold or too warm. It was perfect.

Hinata moved over to sit beside Naruto and she rested her head against his shoulder. "You're so handsome and muscular," she crooned as her hands traced over Naruto's chest.

"Get your hands off of him," said Sakura. She also moved to Naruto's side only she insisted on draping her legs over his. Her pouting lips only inches away from Naruto's, she whispered, "He's mine."

"No he's mine!" said another voice. Naruto glanced up to see Ino join them in the pond.

"No he's mine!" This time it was Tenten who jumped into the water and practically slid into Naruto's lap.

"Ladies, ladies, ladies," Naruto said. "There's no reason why you can't share, right?"

"But Naruto," Sakura replied, giving him that adorable pouting look that Naruto loved so much. "Which one of us will go first?"

Naruto's grin grew huge. Four beautiful ladies in skimpy bikinis were fighting over him. What more could he possibly ask for except….

"Why not all four of you at the same time?" Naruto ventured hopefully.

"Sure why not?" chorused the four girls excitedly. "That sounds like fun!"

"But first," Hinata said. She tugged at her bikini top; an action that Naruto noticed did amazing things to her considerable bust. "This top is far too tight for me to wear."

"Mine too," agreed Sakura. Quickly, the other two girls voiced the same opinion.

"You should just take them off," suggested Naruto.

"And then we can make out with another!" squealed Tenten.

"That's such a good idea!" agreed Ino.

Naruto leaned back against the edge of the pond and relaxed. All he could do was sit there and stare in dazed fascination as the four beauties of Konoha High began to disrobe and kiss one another. The only way this could get even better was…

He looked down at the pond. The water had magically transformed into chocolate. He dipped his hand into it and gave it an experimental taste. It was delicious!

"But Naruto, what about me?" said a new voice. "Can I join in the fun too?"

Excited to see what new beautiful young lady might be joining his expanding harem, Naruto eagerly turned around. What he saw, however, made his face contort in a hideous mask of disgust. The warmth and bliss of his tropical paradise vanished in an instant, replaced instead with a terrifying sensation of cold hopelessness and dread.

Standing at the edge of the pond, her arms wrapped crossly across her busty chest, was none other than the one woman Naruto unreservedly feared: Tsunade.

Naruto quickly spun around, hoping that if he didn't look at her maybe she too would magically disappear. To his horror, though, the only things that had vanished from the pond were the girls. And the chocolate. In an instant they had disappeared.

It was then that the horrifying truth dawned on Naruto. This wasn't heaven. This was hell.

* * *

The otherwise silent hospital ward of the Konoha academy was shattered with a piercing scream. It was a loud, terrifying noise full of a hopeless desperation that chilled the bones and sucked the joy and happiness out of the air. It lingered in the air, echoing throughout the corridors of the medical wing and causing more than a few nurses on duty to stop what they were doing and glance perplexedly towards the source of the commotion.

It was only when that they realized it was only one of their regular patients, a certain loud mouthed obnoxious student who spent more time unconscious in the hospital than he did learning in class, did they shrug and return to work. One of them muttered something to a passing messenger to go speak with the Hokage, but other than that, the brief disturbance did little to derail the everyday activities of Konoha High's medical staff. They had endured these periodic disruptions for over three years and had long since learned to ignore them.

After all, no one really wanted to know what was going on in the dreams and nightmares of Uzumaki Naruto.

It was only when Naruto's throat began to grow hoarse from his incessant screaming did he realize that he was conscious. Even then, it still took him a good few moments to finally figure out that he was still screaming at the top of his lungs like a little girl. It was only then did he finally close his mouth and subside into sheepish silence.

Panting for breath, Naruto reclined back into his bed. He was sweating profusely and his heart was thundering in his chest. Still, a smile crossed his lips as he gazed up at the hospital's all too familiar ceiling. Every time he had been knocked unconscious from either sports or random tomfoolery, the ceiling's drabbed, manila tiling was always the first thing he saw. It was always a welcomed sight; seeing meant he wasn't dead yet.

His chest was covered in fresh bandage and several tubes were running into his veins, feeding his body with fluids running from a variety of medical potions sitting on a nearby cart. Normally he would've removed the tubes and whined about how hungry he was until a nurse brought him food, but this time he left them alone. Naruto was exhausted and was content to just lie there and recuperate.

Naruto knew his body could take a heavy beating because of his bond with the Kyubi. The demon fox accelerated his healing capabilities to that far beyond any other Shinobi. Even still, it looked like the fox's power was working in over time to heal Naruto's wounds judging by how weak the young Shinobi felt. Getting stabbed in the stomach was definitely a step up from the type of wounds that his regenerative powers normally had to deal with.

Naruto's hands unconsciously touched the bandaged surface of his stomach where the knifeman's blade had pierced his body. Already the wound had closed without the aid of stitches, and Naruto was willing to bet once he removed the bandages that there would be no visible scar. A dire wound like that should've killed any Shinobi, but like always, the Kyubi had saved him from death once again.

_You owe me for this, _the fox's voice whispered in his ear. _Don't forget. _

_You saved yourself, _Naruto cagily responded.

It might have been true that it was only because of the Kyubi's power that Naruto was still alive after so many close scrapes with death, but the young Shinobi was well aware of the demon fox's selfish intentions. The Kyubi has rescued him out of self preservation; nothing more and nothing less. Naruto owed it nothing.

_I saved both of us, _the voice hissed irritably. _ Why don't you just let me control your body already? You don't seem entirely interested in living anyway. Your actions, dare I say, seem almost suicidal. _

Naruto ignored the voice and instead focused on counting the tiles in the ceiling.

_Why do you persist in this game, Naruto? Pretending like you don't need me, like you don't crave my powers…_

There was sixty tiles…no, wait. Maybe sixty one. Naruto frowned and returned to the beginning and started counting again.

_You are nothing without me. Nothing. _

Naruto kept his mind blank, refusing to even acknowledge the demon fox.

_I'll leave you alone for now, _the Kyubi said. _But I'm always here. Lingering…in the back of your mind…waiting. _

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Naruto to sit up, and a moment later, Tsunade and Shizune rounded the corner and came to a stop before his bed. It took all of Naruto's self control to not start chuckling when he saw the Hokage; the memory of his nightmare was still fresh in his mind.

"Naruto, I heard a little girl was screaming from here," said Tsunade. "Have you heard anything?"

Naruto scowled and flushed in embarrassment. "I didn't hear anything," he muttered.

"Well, as you know I'm not here to dissect whatever nightmares have you screaming like a child though I'm sure that would be most amusing if not somewhat pathetic," Tsunade said as she crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm here to talk to you about last night."

"Where's Sakura?" Naruto asked. "She's alright, right?"

Shizune glanced at the medical chart in her hands and nodded. "She left earlier this morning with a few stitches applied to her shoulder. Nothing too serious."

A smile of relief crossed Naruto's lips, and it felt like a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew Neji would have gotten them to safety.

"Hey!" Tsunade snapped. She clapped her hands in front of Naruto's face. "Focus!"

It took a good quarter of an hour to relate to Tsunade what exactly had transpired from the moment Naruto and Sakura had left to the moment he had pressed the button on the remote detonator. He was careful to leave out Hinata and Neji's involvement in his report; he didn't know how much Tsunade truly knew and he had no intention to get them in any trouble. For the most part Tsunade and Shizune listened in silence. The only time Tsunade interrupted was when Naruto began talking about the intruder.

"What did he look like?" she asked.

"Uh, young. Long blond hair. Kind of gay looking," Naruto replied.

"And you said he seemed to have a certain affinity for explosives?"

Naruto nodded. "He kept going on about how they were an art or some crap. Do you know who he was?"

"We definitely have an idea," Tsunade answered. "We think the man is a terrorist named Deidara. He's an ex-Rock Shinobi turned freelance mercenary. Unfortunately, we have no way of finding out for sure."

"Because he's in tons of tiny pieces?" Naruto ventured.

"No," the Hokage responded. "For someone who claims to be an expert with explosives, whoever wired the bombs did an amateur job. From the looks of it only a few minor charges detonated; not enough to kill him apparently as we're pretty sure he managed to escape into the woods."

Shizune grinned shrewdly. "It's probably the only reason why you're still alive, kid."

The reality of Shizune's words hit Naruto like a ton of bricks. Even with the Kyubi's amazing regenerative abilities, he wasn't as invincible as he thought he was. It might have saved him from a knife in the gut, but if that hack terrorist hadn't screwed up, the Konoha cleanup crew might be peeling parts of him off a wall right now. He had pressed the detonator button fully thinking that he might die, but the knowledge that he had cheated death due to a mere fluke was incredibly unnerving.

"What were you doing in the sewers anyway?" Shizune asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. "Near the Hyuga estate no less."

"That's not important right now," Tsunade interrupted. "Alright, Naruto. Go get some rest and I'll have someone debrief you later."

Naruto looked at the Hokage disbelievingly. "You mean I'm not in trouble?"

"Do you want to be?"

"Not really."

"Then why are you asking?"

The blonde haired Shinobi shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I thought trespassing through the sewers was something students normally got in trouble for."

The Hokage smiled at Naruto. If Naruto had stopped to think about it, it was the first time he had ever seen the Hokage favor him with anything other than a disapproving scowl.

"Naruto, I have a pretty good idea what you and Miss Haruno were doing in the sewers, but that's not important. What is important is that your presence there managed to prevent a terrorist from undoubtedly killing many people."

Naruto grinned. "So I'm some sort of hero?"

Tsunade snorted. "Don't push your luck. Now, get some rest."

She turned and walked away. Shizune, however, stayed around for a second longer.

"Oh, Naruto," the medical ninja said with a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "Don't forget. Your dance is in three days. I hope you have a date!"

Naruto groaned. In all the excitement, he had forgotten that the dance was coming up. He had also forgotten that he didn't have a date. His dream girl he had dumped in a sewer and the girl he loved was still locked securely in her fortress of an estate. She might have kissed him, but he didn't even get a chance to ask her to the dance with him. And after night's botched break in, Naruto was certain Hinata's father was more paranoid than ever and had completely locked down the mansion.

Once again, Naruto was back at square one. Well, worst than square one. At least back then he had a date to the dance with Sakura.

"Great," Naruto muttered.

* * *

Author's Notes:

This chapter was a tad bit rushed but I wanted to get it out on time. Also, a winner was selected for the contest and I'll be PM'ing you with details shortly.

Reviews are always appreciated! Thanks!


	49. Chapter 49

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Notice: Copyrighted! Lolz!

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Forty Nine: Three Days**

_It was far too cold for this sort of nonsense_, decided Itachi as he wrapped his thin robes around himself. The cavern he found himself sitting in did a poor job of keeping the winter cold at bay, and the fact that he was being forced to sit around idly in such weather was a source of some consternation. It wasn't that he minded being in the cold; Itachi had long since learned to ignore things as trivial as the weather. What irked him that he was being forced to endure the harsh weather winter for nothing.

The cave was a small stone structure that was several miles removed from the Konoha border. Itachi had been instructed to report here after the few surviving Sound commandos had snuck back outside of Konoha controlled territory, and he had been impatiently waiting ever since.

What exactly the delay was Itachi wasn't entirely certain, but he was pretty sure that it had something to do with the large medical tent that had been erected in the middle of the cave. Orochimaru and his cronies were busy at work in there. Every once in a while Orochimaru would emerge from the tent with his robes covered in blood. He had not volunteered any information to Itachi, and Itachi had not bothered to inquire.

Truthfully, Itachi didn't really care what they were doing there. In all likely, judging from the periodic screams of pain that came from the tent, Orochimaru was tending to a wounded comrade. However, even if Orochimaru was performing some bizarre experiment or having some twisted homoerotic orgy with his assistants, Itachi couldn't bring himself to exert the energy necessary to care.

All Itachi really cared about was how much of his precious time Orochimaru insisted wasting.

"I'm tired of waiting," a voice next to Itachi snarled.

Beside Itachi was another member who bore the robes of the Akatsuki. A towering man with fanged teeth and pale blue skin that was redolent with gill like slits, Kisame was one of the Mist Village's former legendary swordsmen and one of the few Akatsuki Shinobi's that Itachi didn't think was a complete moron. Primarily it was because Itachi found himself partnered with the shark-like Kisame more often than not, but unlike the rest of his idiot comrades, Itachi didn't normally feel the urge to stab the man in the eye every five seconds. Maybe one day they might even be able to be friends.

"I don't know why _he _won't just allow us to attack the village," Kisame growled. He affectionately patted the humongous, bandaged wrapped sword that rested beside him. "It's been weeks since my Samehada got a chance to feed."

Itachi frowned and picked idly at his perfectly manicured nails. The leader of the Akatsuki had something in mind for Konoha –his ambush on the convoy, Deidara's botched bombing mission, and the constant reconnaissance had to be for something. What exactly the master plan entailed, however, was unknown to everyone but their leader who insisted on keeping them in the dark.

Orochimaru liked to pretend that he knew what was going on, but Itachi was not fooled by that idiot's façade. Though he was still technically in charge, the snake bastard wasn't anymore conscious of their leader's plans than Itachi was. That was, of course, assuming that the scheming prick wasn't plotting something on the side.

"He knows what he's doing," Itachi said with a confidence he did not truly feel. The Akatsuki leader was smart; only a man as clever and shrewd as he could have seamlessly orchestrated this in such a short period of time. But that hardly meant Itachi trusted him. In fact, the knowledge that their leader was intelligent just made the Uchiha all the more wary.

Kisame shifted slightly from the position he had been standing in for over an hour now. "So what now?" he inquired.

Itachi shrugged his shoulders and continued picking at his nails. He hated having dirty nails.

"Will you cut that shit out?" growled Kisame. "We've been sitting here for hours now without a damn clue as to what we're doing next. Doesn't that bother you even slightly?"

The raven haired Uchiha blew the dirt from his fingers and lifted to inspect them. Perfect.

"Kisame," Itachi said as he began work on his other hand. "The only thing we should be worrying about is following orders, and right now our orders are to sit tight and wait to hear from Orochimaru."

Kisame scowled, his fanged teeth flashing menacingly. "I don't trust him."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. As much as he agreed with Kisame, he thought of telling his partner to abstain from voicing his opinion about his comrades. Words like those got people killed. He decided it against it, however, and returned to cleaning his fingernails. He was impressed by Kisame's intuition, but if the day ever came when Itachi had to betray the swordsman, he might have to use this against him.

Some would call Itachi a cold, sadistic bastard. Itachi liked to think he was just careful.

Orochimaru emerged from the medical tent he and his assistants had erected inside the cavern. Itachi and Kisame both looked up at him inquisitively.

"Deidara will survive," Orochimaru said in a bland voice that made it impossible to discern whether or not he was pleased by this news. "But a piece of shrapnel destroyed his left eye."

"A tragedy," Kisame said flatly. "What was he doing in the sewers anyway?"

"That's for me to know and for you to not," Orochimaru replied evenly. "If _he _wanted you to know he would've told you like he told me."

The shark-like Shinobi growled and Itachi noticed a twitch in his hand; it was almost as if it was itching to draw his sword and slay Orochimaru. Itachi decided if Kisame did decide to murder Orochimaru, he would have to step in and stop his partner. Privately, he was still hoping to be the one to slit the snake bastard's throat, and he would hate Kisame to steal his fun.

"Do you really think your archaic weapon could hurt me?" Orochimaru asked amusedly, obviously noticing the same twitch in Kisame's hand as Itachi had. "Do it you simpleton and find out what true power looks like."

Itachi rose to his feet swiftly and abruptly enough to startle the two arguing Shinobi into silence. "We've been freezing our asses here for three hours because of your man's incompetence." He said in a bare whisper that still managed to belay his impatience and annoyance. "I think we've been waiting long enough."

Orochimaru glared at Itachi, and Itachi only smiled and glared right back until the other ninja was forced to look away. Orochimaru could toy with Kisame all he wanted, but he certainly knew better than to cross Itachi without a very good reason. Snarling with clear annoyance, Orochimaru reached into his robes and tossed an envelope at Itachi.

"Your orders," Orochimaru said. He turned and disappeared back into the medical tent.

Itachi tore open the envelope and read the piece of paper that was inside.

"What's it say?" Kisame asked curiously.

Itachi said nothing as he read the message once more. He scarcely believed what he was reading, and it took all his self control not to show any surprise at what the Akatsuki leader's plan was. Itachi had to admit, though, his respect for their leader had just increased slightly. Of all the things Akatsuki could possibly be scheming, this was not one Itachi had predicted.

"Itachi!" the swordsman growled irritably. "What does it say?"

"Get ready to move out," replied Itachi simply. He made a gesture and the letter spontaneously combusted into flames. It burnt briefly, leaving a pile of smoldering ashes in Itachi's hand.

"The operation starts in three days."

* * *

After Tsunade had finished her debriefing with Naruto, she quickly departed and made her way towards the city's front gates. She walked leisurely down the busy city street; she was in absolutely no rush. Kakashi was scheduled to meet with her for a debriefing fifteen minutes ago, but Tsunade couldn't remember the last time the silver-haired Shinobi had ever been on time. Knowing Kakashi, he would probably arrive in a half hour with some inane excuse about killer hyenas or something to explain his tardiness.

The city's entrance had radically transformed over the last month. Before, the tall wooden gates that had protected Konoha for centuries were guarded only by a small shack manned by two Shinobi who would welcome merchants and visitors to the village. However, ever since Tsunade's meeting with Orochimaru, certain security measures had been taken to ensure the village's protection.

The wooden gates had been replaced with tall, metal fences redolent with barbed wire, and large concrete guard towers. Security check points were installed every few feet, and a large group of Konoha Shinobi patrolled the gateway. There was also a large contingent of normal soldiers stationed there. Most were standing around armed with assault rifles, but there were also a number of men in the towers armed with sniper rifles.

No one paid any attention to Tsunade as she approached the gateway. There were all far too occupied with the caravan of vans that were driving through the gates. One van at a time, the guards would train their rifles on the van while their commander would speak to the driver. The van would then proceed to another security check point where another team of guards would thoroughly inspect the van and its contents.

Much to Tsunade's utter amazement, Kakashi was already there. He was helping a group of soldiers inspect the interior of one of the vans. The van they were inspecting was packed full of men, women, and children garbed in ragged peasant's clothing. Even from where she was standing, Tsunade could smell the stench emanating from them. They stank of sweat and fear; none of them looked as though they had bathed in days, and their eyes twitched uncontrollably as though stricken with fear. They were huddled together for warmth, wrapped in thick blankets that they had been supplied with.

"Get them to the first aid station, captain." Kakashi told one of the soldiers. The captain nodded, barked some orders to his men, and the van was allowed to continue on its way.

"What's our status, Kakashi?" Tsnade asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "We're taking in an average of several hundred refugees a day and we're doing our best to disperse them throughout camps behind the city gates. "

Tsunade nodded. For the last several weeks now Tsunade and the Konoha government had been working in cooperation to evacuate the smaller villages and towns that resided on the border of Konoha. Even though the Konoha army had mobilized to defend its borders, it was inevitable that civilians living in the region would get caught in the crossfire. Evacuating them further inland was the only feasible option to prevent massive civilian casualties once the fighting began.

"What are our losses so far?" Tsunade asked.

"We lost two vans so far this week in attacks by raiders," Kakashi reported. "And a third was ambushed but escaped. Two guards were killed, however."

Relocating thousands of civilians at a time was a risky and dangerous operation –raiders were just one of the many obstacles that Tsunade had to focus on overcoming. As much as the Konoha government denied it, there were still nomadic bands of thieves and criminals that patrolled around the Konoha countryside. They usually preyed on passing merchant caravans, but poorly guarded refugee vans were also tempting targets. Human slaves on the black market were just as lucrative of a commodity as sacks of flour and gold in some of the lawless, neighboring territories.

She had done her best to ensure that each van was guarded either by Konoha military personnel or a Shinobi when they could spare it, but with war looming on the horizon, evacuating refugees from potential hotspots ranked low on the council's list of priorities. They would try and save as many civilians as possible, and if some were lost in the process, then so be it.

War was inevitable. Innocent people dying were inevitable. At this point, all Tsunade could do was try her best to save as many of them as they could.

"Thank you, Kakashi," Tsunade said. She was about ready to turn and leave for her next meeting when Kakashi gestured for her to wait.

"Hokage, I couldn't help but notice that I'm being assigned to the border," Kakashi said,

"And that ANBU is being tasked with security for the Winter Ball."

"That is correct," said Tsunade. "The council feels as though you'd be more of a valuable asset on the frontlines than in the city. I agree."

"As do I," replied the silver-haired Shinobi. "All the same, even more so now I think the Winter Ball should be cancelled. It's too appealing of a target for the enemy if they should choose to attack."

Tsunade nodded. Kakashi was correct of course, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Despite her protests, the council had unanimously voted to continue on with the high school dance as played. Canceling it, they said, would demoralize the community and show Konoha's neighbors and allies that they lacked confidence in their own security.

Security would be provided for the dance, of course. Tsunade had assigned a detail of ANBU to supervise the event. Even still, though, they had so few men to spare on non-military operations that she hadn't been able to obtain even half the amount of security she had been hoping for.

Canceling the dance would have been the smart and safe thing to do, but the village's council was hardly renowned for their brilliance. The appearance of strength was more important to those fools than actually being strong.

"Duly noted," Tsunade replied. Kakashi saluted and returned to work.

* * *

Author's Notes  
Sorry about the late update. I ended up going to Seattle for the weekend for the Penny-Arcade expo (it was awesome by the way) so I didn't get a whole lot of time to write. Hopefully you guys will still like it though. Keep the reviews coming in! The review average has substantially dropped over the last several months. I know it's probably because I haven't updated as often as I'd like, but it's still somewhat disheartening to see hundreds of hits and only ten reviews or so. So if you're reading this, just drop a quick line letting me know you're still reading! Thanks!


	50. Chapter 50

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Notice: Insert copyright notice here

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Fifty: Knowledge or Secrets**

Sasuke could not remember the last time had visited the school's library. It had to have been years. For the life of him, he could not recall the place being quite so enormous.

A massive room with a high, rounded glass ceiling that filtered in the midmorning sun, the Konoha High library was an awe inspiring sight to behold. Row after row of shelves extended from one end of the room to the other, and packed on each shelf was every type of book imaginable. Thin books, thick books, tomes, periodicals, scrolls –a cursory glance at the collection the librarians had compiled told Sasuke that some of these books were hundreds if not thousands of years old. He vaguely recalled that the library was one of Konoha's greatest treasures. It entertained one of the largest collections of books in the world that brought in traveling scholars and researchers from every corner of the globe.

Despite its fame, however, Sasuke had never had much need to visit the library. He was not much of a reader; all the things he knew he learned on his own, and the only reason why he was smarter than practically every other student in his year was because he was naturally more gifted and talented than they. His intellect was the product of his own innate brilliance and not any of the educational supplements that the library might offer.

He made his way towards the large circulation desk that resided in the center of the library like an island amidst the ocean of books. An ancient, old lady sat behind the counter, barely visible behind the huge stack of books that were stacked haphazardly around her.

"Why hello there, Sasuke," she said in a soft, friendly voice.

Sasuke blinked, slightly taken aback for a moment. "How do you know me?" he asked. "Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot, I'm an Uchiha."

Practically everyone in the village knew who he was. Most of the students in Konoha High knew him as one of the smartest and most talented individuals in the academy. Most of the villagers and other Konoha Shinobi knew him, however, for being the lone survivor of the infamous Uchiha massacre.

"No," the elderly librarian said with a kind smile. "I remember the face of every person who has walked into my library. It's been almost seven years since you last visited, Sasuke."

"I've been pretty busy," Sasuke replied with an awkward sort of shrug.

She peered at him over a set of overly large spectacles. "You look a lot like your brother." She said. "Such a handsome, brilliant young boy he was. What a shame he turned out that way. A tragedy."

"Yes, indeed, a tragedy" Sasuke said, doing his best to suppress a scowl of annoyance. Talking about his family was not something he particularly enjoyed discussing, especially with creepy old women who knew far more about him than he was comfortable with.

"So, Mr. Sasuke," she said. "What can I help you find?"

The sound of giggling from behind Sasuke made him turn. Hidden behind the bookshelves nearby were a group of young girls, students from the academy, who were intently staring at him while laughing amongst themselves. They would peek out and giggle while pointing at Sasuke whenever they thought he wasn't looking, and would quickly duck back into hiding when he turned around to scowl at them. One of them was holding a camera, and Sasuke could hear her friends daring her to take a picture of him.

As much as Sasuke detested his fangirls, their presence was somewhat reassuring. It was nice to know that despite his self imposed exile, he was still as popular as ever. In fact, if rumors were to be believed, the mystery behind Sasuke's temporary disappearance had only added an enigmatic air of danger and secrecy to Konoha High's teen idol's already dangerous, bad boy image. This small group of girls were only the tip of the iceberg; no doubt once word got out that _the _Sasuke was in the library more girls would come flocking to see the sight.

"I was hoping you could help me acquire the latest set of blue prints," Sasuke said, "of the school and its surrounding grounds."

"Oh?" The librarian asked curiously. "That's not a request I get everyday. What does a young man like you need architectural plans for?"

"I'm doing a piece about Konoha High in the student newspaper," Sasuke lied. "And I thought studying the plans would give me some interesting insight for the article."

The real reason was a little more conspicuous. In truth, Sasuke had absolutely no interest in school blue prints nor did he work for the newspaper. Kabuto had asked him to retrieve a set of plans for Konoha High from the library and deliver it to him during their scheduled meeting later that afternoon. In exchange, Kabuto had promised, he would give Sasuke a number of highly illicit technique scrolls, many of which Kabuto knew Sasuke had been dying to get his hands on for months.

Why exactly Kabuto needed these blueprints Sasuke did not know nor had he asked. It was odd. This was not the first time Kabuto had asked Sasuke to obtain documents of this nature for him in exchange for technique scrolls. Over the last couple months, Sasuke estimated he had retrieved over a dozen different documents. Sometimes it was blueprints; sometimes it was records –all of it, however, was hardly confidential or classified information and was available to the public. Kabuto could have easily walked into the library and gotten them himself, but instead he insisted on Sasuke doing his legwork for him.

It indeed made Sasuke suspicious that Kabuto was willing to trade highly illegal technique scrolls for something as easily accessible as public documents, and on more than one occasion Sasuke had considered reporting Kabuto to the authorities. Ultimately, however, he had decided against it. Whatever Kabuto needed the plans for was his business. All Sasuke needed to know was that the medical Shinobi had proven to be trustworthy so far. And besides, he paid incredibly well.

A few minutes later, the librarian returned with an armful of rolled up papers. She passed them over the counter to Sasuke.

"Normally I wouldn't be so willing about letting you have these what with the Winter Dance coming up and all," she said, "kids always using whatever they can to play pranks and such. But I can trust you that you're using these plans for actual schoolwork Right, Sasuke?"

"Of course," Sasuke replied with a nod. "Thanks."

He unfurled the plans and glanced at them. Though he was no architect, Sasuke knew enough to recognize the building plans for a number of Konoha High's facilities. One of the plans, he noticed, was for the recently renovated banquet hall where they would be holding the Winter Dance in a few days.

The scrolls were tucked away into a plastic tube Sasuke had brought along for protection, and the plans secured, he slung the container over his shoulder and bid the librarian farewell. She smiled warmly at him and made him promise that he would return soon; Sasuke was pretty sure she knew he was lying, though.

Ignoring his entourage of fangirls that blushed and giggled as Sasuke brushed past, he made his way back through the rows of bookshelves towards the library's entrance. However, just when the library's glass revolving doors had come into sight, someone stepped out from behind a bookshelf to block his path.

"Neji," Sasuke said coldly. "What do you want?"

The memory of their last encounter was still fresh in Sasuke's mind, and he had a strange suspicion that this meeting wasn't going to go any more pleasantly.

"Fancy seeing you here," Neji said. He waved a hand around the library. "I had the understanding that knowledge such as this was beneath popular cool kids like you."

Sasuke smirked. Unlike Sasuke who seldom read anything other than required school books, Neji was one of the library's most devout patrons. It was said that if Neji wasn't in the woods training or in class, he could be found in the library with his nose buried in some textbook or another. Ancient philosophy, foreign languages; historical texts –nothing was too complex, too mundane, or too obscure for Neji's ardent fascination with literature.

"Only certain types of knowledge, Neji." Sasuke replied.

"Maybe it's not the knowledge that this library offers that interests you," mused Neji, "but what about the secrets it holds?"

There was something about the way Neji emphasized the word "secret" that made Sasuke pause. He had to force himself to remain absolutely neutral lest Neji notice him react. Was it possible that Neji knew or, at the very least, suspected what Sasuke was doing for Kabuto?

No, Sasuke decided. There was no way. He had been careful about covering his footsteps.

Neji was merely trying to bait him, to force him to do something stupid. He was just being an asshole. Maybe Neji was hoping that he would catch Sasuke smuggling something illegal from the library. Many a student had been suspended from the academy for the exact reason several times in the past, and an untimely suspension would be exactly what Neji would want in order to discredit Sasuke. He just being a child; he felt threatened by Sasuke's rise in popularity and was trying to do anything to prevent Sasuke from stealing any of his spotlight.

_How immature, _thought Sasuke scornfully. Here Sasuke was working to become powerful enough to defeat one of the most dangerous threats to Konoha's safety, and Neji was preoccupied with something as trivial as a high school popularity contest. It was almost disappointing. There was a time when Sasuke considered Neji a suitable rival. Now, Sasuke saw him as what he truly was: a petty child, just like the rest of his classmates.

"Get out of my way," Sasuke snarled.

Neji smiled and complied. He stepped to the side and waved Sasuke past.

Sasuke walked past, pushing open the library doors and stormed out into the cold, snowy world beyond.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry this chapter is so short and long overdue. Mid-terms are coming up and life has been pretty hectic. Expect another chapter sometime next week (hopefully it will be longer) and thanks for being so patient guys! I appreciate it!

As always, read and review! Want chapters to come quicker? Review!

Not a promise.


	51. Chapter 51

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster

Copyright Notice: [Insert copyright notice here]

Summary: AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits a new generation of ninjas after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Fifty-One: A Mother's Love**

Sakura wasn't sure how long she had been lying there on her bed, staring blankly up at her ceiling. It had to have been a little over four hours now. Every time she tried to stand up and do something, her head became all woozy until she collapsed back on her bed again. It was probably a side effect from all the prescribed pain killers that the medics had her taking every three or four hours. It did wonders to suppress the ache in her arm from where that madman had lodged a knife in her shoulder, but at the same time it made her feel like a recovering drug addict coming off of detoxification.

She wiggled her right arm. It was amazing what the medics were capable of. Cartilage damage, torn muscle, rent flesh –Sakura's stab wounds were child's play for Konoha's doctors. A few well applied salves here, a healing technique there to accelerate the healing, and a few stitches to ensure her skin repaired itself and Sakura was as good as new.

It would hurt for a few days though, the doctor had warned her. He wanted her to stay off her feet for a day and take the pills he had given her. That was fine with Sakura. It had gotten her out of school for the day, and fortunately, the Hokage had personally talked to her parents earlier to explain why their daughter had not been in her bed when they had awoken that morning.

A training exercise, Tsunade had told them. Sakura was pretty sure her parents hadn't entirely believed her, but who were they to call the Hokage a liar?

She had been lying in bed ever since she had returned home. Sleep was not an option –she had tried for a while but then had given up in frustration. Instead, Sakura continued to stare up at her ceiling, waiting impatiently for a slumber that would probably never come.

Still, it had given Sakura a lot of time to reflect on what had happened the night before. Every so often her gaze would linger over where Naruto's duffle bag and mattress lay on the opposite side of her room. When it did, she would sigh, and each time she would wonder the same exact thing.

When she saw Naruto again, would she hug him or punch him in the face?

On one hand, Sakura had never been happier then when she learned that Naruto was going to be fine. After Naruto had courageously rescued her and stayed behind to distract the terrorist, Neji had ushered Hinata and Sakura up through the nearest manhole and onto the surface. That was when they had heard the explosion. Sakura had feared the worst, and her dread had only increased when she saw medics wheeling a heavily bandaged Naruto into the emergency room. She didn't want to believe that Naruto was dead, but for several agonizingly long hours as she lay there in her hospital bed, she had considered the horrific possibility.

On the other hand, however, now that she knew Naruto would recover because of his freakishly fast regenerative powers, Sakura was still pissed off at him for dumping her. In the sewers of all places while she was doing him a favor! What an asshole!

The sound of her bedroom door opening made Sakura lazily roll over and look to see who had entered. It was her mother. Tall, thin, and with the same rosy pink hair as Sakura, many remarked how similar mother and daughter looked.

"Hi honey," her mother said, sitting down on the bed beside her daughter. "How's your arm?"

"It's fine." Sakura replied.

"I do wish you were my careful on your training assignments. It seems like you're in that hospital more often than you're in class."

Sakura laughed. "It's not that bad. Besides, getting hurt is all apart of being a Shinobi."

Her mother smiled, but Sakura could always see the disquiet in her eyes whenever she mentioned being a Shinobi. It was no secret that her mother disapproved of Sakura's occupation. It was too dangerous, too risky, too ostentatious and unbefitting of a lady. All she wanted of Sakura was to grow up as a normal girl, go to a normal school, and get a normal job and marry a normal villager.

But some people were born for normalcy. And some were born to be Shinobi.

"Is something wrong, sweetie?" her mother asked. "You look lost in thought. Trouble with the boys?"

"Something like that." Sakura replied.

"Which one? That blonde haired boy or that one from the Uchiha family?"

"Both," admitted Sakura. "It's too complicated for you to understand."

Her mother frowned. "You know, Sakura, I don't need to be a Shinobi to understand my little girl's problems. So what's the matter?"

Sakura sat up and was relieved to find that the room wasn't spinning around as much as usual. Taking a deep breath, she told her mother all about her conflicted feelings for the two boneheads in her life that she couldn't help but love.

"And to top it off," Sakura moaned in dismay, "I don't have a date to the dance anymore."

For a moment, Sakura's mother said nothing. She sat there, stroking her daughter's hair reassuringly the way only a mother could. As much as she loved her daughter, there were times when she couldn't even recognize the Sakura she used to know. It was hard to believe that her little girl was all but a woman, and it was simultaneously a source of great happiness and sadness to see how she had grown up.

Sakura didn't question her silence because, in truth, she wasn't entirely interested in her mother's opinion. Her mother knew this as well as Sakura. No words of wisdom or sagely advice would sway Sakura's heart one way or the other. A conflict like this was something only Sakura could resolve. Nonetheless, for several more minutes, Sakura remained by her mother's side. There was a warmth and comfort to her mother's company, something that Sakura's life had been so depressingly devoid of recently. It made her feel loved.

Just then, Sakura's cell phone began ringing. She picked it up from her beside table and glanced at it.

"Ino wants me to come over," Sakura told her mother, reading the text message that her friend had sent. "Can I go over to her house for a little while?"

Sakura's mother nodded. "Sure, honey. Just make sure you're back in time for dinner."

Sakura smiled and gave her mother a big hug. "Thanks," she said.

She was halfway out of her bedroom door when her mother's voice made her stop and look back for a second.

"Sakura?" She called.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I love you," she said.

Sakura smiled in response. "I love you too, Mom."

**Author's Notes:**

Lesson learned: when fixing your computer, make sure you back up your files first. Long story short, my hard drive was on the fritz and I was only able to salvage about half of it. Fortunately, half of this chapter was part of what I was able to save. Unfortunately, the other half wasn't. I just managed to get everything in working order again, and I wanted to toss this chapter online as soon as possible. Hope you guys enjoy it!

So, apologies for the incredibly long delay, and sorry for only being able to get you guys half of what I originally planned.

I'll be working hard on trying to rewrite the chapter, and here's hoping it won't take a month to do so.

Thanks for your patience guys! Means a lot to me!


	52. Chapter 52

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster

**Chapter Fifty-Two: Betrayal**

Kabuto was late for their appointed rendezvous, and the fact that the white-haired medic had yet to show up made Sasuke both anxious and annoyed. Kabuto was normally incredible punctual, and his unusual tardiness bothered Sasuke more than he cared to admit. Even earlier Sasuke had been apprehensive about this meeting; there were too many things about it that did not sit well with the young Shinobi. Against his better judgment though, he had decided to go ahead with it anyway.

Sasuke exhaled deeply, his breath visible in the chilling afternoon cold. He rubbed his hands together for warmth beneath his cloak and looked into the distance in hopes of catching a glimpse of Kabuto arriving There was none, however, and in the remote, empty clearing that Kabuto had requested Sasuke to meet him in, there was no chance that he would be able to approach without Sasuke noticing.

Their meeting spot was one of the things about this meeting that bothered Sasuke. Normally he would meet Kabuto at the medical ninja's office or at a coffee shop. Today, though, Kabuto had asked Sasuke to meet him in an empty field far away on the village's outskirts. Additionally, in the brief message that Kabuto had sent Sasuke, he had sounded urgent. The reason for this urgency Sasuke did not know, but he definitely could speculate. Maybe Kabuto suspected that the Konoha police force was onto him for smuggling Sasuke illegal documents, or maybe the medic ninja had some important new information for him. Whatever the reason, though, it unnerved Sasuke.

Normally this would be more than enough reason for Sasuke to do the smart thing and walk away. After all, he was not foolish enough to not appreciate the severity and illegality of his actions. If he got caught trading information for forbidden technique scrolls, expulsion from high school would be the least of Sasuke's worries. In the end though, Sasuke had elected to ignore his misgivings with the situation and had journeyed through the cold wind and fallen snow to meet Kabuto.

Kabuto paid well enough to take a few risks. The technique scrolls that he had given to Sasuke had only grown progressively more fascinating, and Kabuto had hinted that the latest batch would grant Sasuke abilities reserved only for a Hokage level Shinobi. Abilities, perhaps, that would allow Sasuke to finally kill Itachi. Besides, as mysterious and enigmatic as Kabuto was, it was true that the medic Shinobi had never given Sasuke a reason to distrust him before.

He glanced nervously down at his watch again, and decided that if Kabuto did not arrive in another five minutes he would leave. Sasuke had better things to do with his time than to stand around in the freezing snow.

For starters, Sasuke still had to find a date to the dance. It was a task, Sasuke was surprised to find, considerably harder than he had planned. Finding a girl suitable for an individual such as himself was no easy feat -they had to be an ace in the looks department, a good dancer, and someone who could hold their own during dinner conversation. However, such girls his age group were rare in Konoha High, and the few that did qualify to make it on Sasuke's special list had already found dates. He had been tempted to try and seduce them to going with him instead, but he had decided against it. Getting into petty squabbles with other boys in his year was beneath him; he had far greater enemies to concern himself with.

Sasuke mentally made a note to make a more concerted effort to find a suitable date as soon as his rendezvous with Kabuto was completed. After Sakura had staunchly rejected him, there was no way that Sasuke would show up with someone who wasn't in every possible way imaginable as impressive as Sakura. Finding a girl that met that criteria, Sasuke acknowledged with a disgruntled frown, would be no easy feat. Sakura had everything that he looked for in a girl. She was smart, talented, and most importantly, had developed a sort of rebellious sass over the last several months that Sasuke found far more attractive than her normal timid and demure demeanor.

He was just preparing to leave when he spotted Kabuto approaching in the distance. He scowled as the white haired medic approached, and he ignored the friendly wave that the other man offered. Crossing his arms, he leaned against a nearby tree.

"What took you so long?" Sasuke demanded, glowering at Kabuto. "And why the hell did we have to meet so far away from the village?"

"Security precautions," said Kabuto with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You recall, after all, what we're doing isn't exactly legal."

Sasuke pretended like he hadn't heard that. He disliked Kabuto calling their dealings 'illegal'. There wasn't inherently anything wrong about what he was doing. He was merely doing what was necessary to become stronger, more skilled, more knowledgeable, and ultimately, more powerful. His instructors should have seen to that he was equipped with the tools needed to defeat evil Shinobi like Itachi; all Sasuke's extracurricular studies were doing was rectifying their shortcomings.

"Did you bring me what I asked for?" Sasuke asked.

Kabuto nodded. "I feel as though I should warn you, Sasuke," he said as he removed a series of scrolls from a satchel he had slung over his shoulder. "Many of these techniques are forbidden and quite dangerous. Acquiring these scrolls was not easy."

Sasuke shrugged indifferently. "They will help me kill my brother, correct?"

"The proper usage of each of these techniques could inflict lethal damage," replied Kabuto. He tossed the scrolls to Sasuke. "So, potentially, yes."

"Then that's all I need to know." Sasuke caught the scrolls and unfurled them. His eyes widened a few times as he scanned them over. Kabuto had not been lying. There was a very good reason why these techniques were strictly forbidden from ever being used.

Kabuto allowed Sasuke to read the scrolls for a few more minutes before clearing his throat to redirect Sasuke's attention. "Now that I got what you wanted, did you bring what I wanted?"

Not even to bother glancing up from the scrolls he was reading, Sasuke dug into his bag and tossed the blueprints that he had obtained from the library earlier that day.

"These are the plans?" Kabuto asked.

"All the ones you asked for," answered Sasuke. He lowered the scrolls and eyed Kabuto suspiciously. "What did you need them for anyway?"

Or more specifically, why did Kabuto need Sasuke to get them for him? All the plans hat Sasuke had retrieved were available to the public. The majority of them had been blueprints and plans for different parts of the village; hardly anything that Kabuto couldn't get himself. For instance, one of the plans that Kabuto had requested was an outline of the newly constructed dance hall in Konoha High.

Kabuto had smuggled out incredibly dangerous and illegal, highly classified documents for Sasuke, and all he had asked for in return were some plans that he could have easily gotten himself at the public library. It did not make any sense at all, and it made Sasuke suspicious and nervous.

"My need for them is my business," said Kabuto shortly. "Was anyone aware of you while you took these?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Maybe. What difference does it make?"

Kabuto frowned for a moment, but it faded quickly. "None I suppose."

"Well then," Sasuke said as he rolled up Kabuto's scrolls and stowed them away in his bag. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Sasuke, wait," Kabuto said. "There was another reason why I asked you to meet me here."

The young Uchiha paused, his suspicion and his interest aroused. He had suspected there was an ulterior meaning behind their rendezvous other than to exchange documents. While ensuring their meetings were not being monitored had always been a priority, never before now had Kabuto had Sasuke walk miles outside of the village merely to disguise their activities.

"Over the last few months you've shown signs of significant improvement," said Kabuto. "New techniques will help arm you for your battle against Itachi, but there's only one true way to become powerful enough to contend with your brother."

Sasuke was definitely interested now. "I'm finally going to meet your master? He's going to train me?"

"Indeed," replied Kabuto. "He will be arriving from over there," He pointed at something in the distance, and involuntarily, Sasuke turned to look at what he was gesturing towards.

It was only Sasuke's sixth sense that alerted him. Without his Sharingan activated to give him the gift of precognition, it was only his raw instincts that warned him of the sudden movement behind him. Sasuke spun on his heels, just in time to grab Kabuto's hand and avoid the tip of the syringe that the medical ninja was holding like a knife.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Sasuke. He slapped Kabuto's hand away, but the medical ninja came at him again. The needle flashed past his face, almost finding purchase in the side of his throat if Sasuke hadn't barely managed to lean back out of its path.

Sasuke was startled, but he couldn't allow his confusion to make him hesitate. He did not know if this was Kabuto's idea of a joke or if this was some sort of test, but it did not matter. All he needed to know was that Kabuto was currently trying his damnedest to stab him with a needle full of sickly green liquid.

"Stop messing around, Kabuto!" snarled Sasuke. Kabuto circled around him, the syringe deftly bouncing back and forth between his hands. He lunged at Sasuke again, but this time Sasuke did not merely retreat from the attack. The young Shinobi stepped in to intercept Kabuto's arm, and in one brutal motion, twisted it behind his back.

Kabuto shouted in pain, and the syringe dropped harmlessly to the snow from his limp grip. Sasuke wasted no time smashing the glass needle beneath his boot.

Gritting his teeth in pain and gasping for air, Kabuto looked up defiantly at Sasuke. There was anger blazing in his eyes, but despite that, there was a malicious smile on his lips. "Sasuke, you idiot. You should have just made this easy on yourself."

Sasuke blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

It was then that Sasuke realized that him and Kabuto were not alone. There was someone else present there with them. An ominous aura swept throughout the snowy field, a presence as tangible and forceful as the fierce gusts of wind that added a freezing chill to the winter air. A cold chill descended down his spine as a horrifying realization dawned on him, and a familiar, paralyzing fear crept over his body.

"Hello again," said a voice Sasuke knew all too well, "Little brother."

Sasuke whirled around, and the moment he saw Itachi standing underneath a nearby tree, his hand shot forth. There was no need for hand signs, no need for a long intricate incantation -with a single, muttered word, a surge of crackling lightning burst forth from Sasuke's fingertips towards Itachi.

The maelstrom of sizzling energy raked across the snow, melting it into water and scorching the earth beneath wherever it touched. It wrapped itself around Itachi, encircling the renegade Shinobi with tendrils of of blazing electricity. Itachi crumpled to his knees as bolts of scorching lightning stabbed into his writhing body, his mouth open in a wordless scream of agony.

Sasuke grinned wickedly and thrust his hands forward, intensifying the lethal jets of light tearing into his older brother. He felt no pity, no mercy; all he felt as his brother's body convulsed on the snow covered floor was righteous satisfaction. Years of suppressed rage and anger were unleashed; the scrolls that Kabuto had given him had taught Sasuke the technique, but it was his hatred that fueled the brutal assault.

After several more moments, Sasuke finally allowed his hands to lower. Instantly, the lightening faded away, revealing the devastation that it had The tree and everything that had been Itachi was burnt to an unrecognizable crisp. Only scorched remnants remained. They still smoldered from the blaze that had eclipsed it. Itachi's corpse was nowhere to be seen; no doubt it had been incinerated into ash and blown away by the blowing wind.

The youngest Uchiha exhaled deeply. His body was trembling, and Sasuke realized how drained he felt. The adrenaline from the battle was seeping away, and he had used almost all his chakra to kill Itachi.

"I did it..." he whispered to himself, his voice barely audible over the howling wind. He clenched his fists together and smiled. "I finally did it."

It hardly seemed real. It hardly seemed possible. But it was. For more than a decade Sasuke had been plotting his brother's death, his family's revenge, and now his dreams of fratricide had finally been realized.

Sasuke's frown waned slightly as he looked at the seared clearing where his brother had met his demise. Even though Sasuke's attack was powerful enough to kill even the most skilled Jounin, his victory almost seemed too easy. It was almost disappointing. In the past, every time Sasuke had envisioned killing Itachi, the battle preluding his brother's death had always been far more grand and epic.

"Screw it," he muttered. Itachi was dead. And that was all that mattered.

He turned around and was ready to deal with the traitorous Kabuto when someone grabbed him roughly around the throat. Sasuke choked as fingers dug into his throat, and before he could even struggle to break free, he felt his feet being lifted off the floor. Sasuke's vision blurred as his unseen assailant smashed his head into a nearby tree and pinned his body against it.

Sasuke's eyes widened in horror when he realized who it was choking him. Standing before him, effortlessly holding a flailing Sasuke by the throat, was none other than a very much alive and entirely unscathed Itachi.

"H-how?" demanded Sasuke in between desperate gasps for air. "I killed you!"

Itachi laughed cruelly and his fingers tightened around his brother's throat. "You're such an idiot, little brother. Did you really think cheap parlor tricks like that had any chance of defeating me? Honestly. Lightening? I'm pretty sure I learned that technique when I was six years old."

Sasuke grabbed Itachi's hand and tried to pry it free, but it was useless. The harder he tried to break free, the tighter Itachi's grip became. His air flow badly restricted and his head began to spin. Sasuke could only gnash his teeth and snarl incoherently in defiance. Never before had he felt so powerless, so helpless.

"Hurry up and kill me you murderous fuck," shouted Sasuke.

Itachi only smiled playfully. "Don't you remember what I told you? I'm not going to kill you. Not until you become powerful enough to avenge mother and father anyway." He smirked when he saw the rage explode in his sibling's eyes at the mention of their murdered parents. "And I really don't see that happening any time soon."

"What do you want from me then?"

"It's like I said the last time we met before we were rudely interrupted by your friends," Itachi's other hand reached up to Sasuke's face and gently stroked his cheek. "I need some help, help only you can give me."

"Go to hell," snapped Sasuke.

Itachi sighed wearily. "Always choosing the hard way, Sasuke. First you wouldn't let Kabuto inject you and now this tiresome defiance? Very well. I did not want it to come to this, but it looks as though we'll have to do things my way."

In one violent motion, Itachi slammed Sasuke to the ground and secured him firmly into the snow by pressing his knee in the middle of his brother's chest. Sasuke was too stunned from the sudden impact that he didn't even realize what Itachi was doing until it was far too late. Itachi reached down and pried open Sasuke's eyelids.

It was only then did Sasuke realize that Itachi had his Sharingan activated, something that Itachi had never felt the need to do use before while fighting him. For a moment, Sasuke was confused. Itachi had no need for the powers of precognition at the moment nor did it make sense that he was casting an illusion on Sasuke. But that meant he was planning to...

"Oh shit." Sasuke gasped. He tried to screw his eyes shut, to turn his head to the side, to break free -anything to avoid eye contact, but it was useless.

"It's like I said," Itachi said calmly as he gazed down at Sasuke so that the brother's eyes met. His Sharingan began to glow red, shimmering ominously amidst the onyx hue of Itachi's retina. Powerless to do anything else, but await the inevitable, Sasuke could only stare at it in mesmerized, horrified, fascination.

"You're going to help me get Naruto. Whether you want to or not."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long delay guys. Just finished with final exams and am currently on vacation so I have more time to write. Expect more updates a little more frequently than the last couple months!

As always, comments, questions, feedback, complaints -drop them in the review section!


	53. Chapter 53

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster  
Copyright Notice: Same as always.

**Chapter Fifty Three: Even Ninjas Like Fancy Sports Cars**

Sakura wrapped her winter cloak tightly around her body as she hastily made her way down the busy streets of Konoha. Despite the cold weather, many customers had dared to brave the fierce chilling winds to finish up last minute gift shopping before Christmas. Fortunately, this meant many of the kiosks and storefronts that would have traditionally been closed for the holidays, were blessedly still open and gave Sakura a brief moments sanctuary from the cold.

She stopped in a small ramen bar and took a moment to warm her hands. The restaurant was busy enough with hungry customers and jolly drunks that no one noticed her as she took a seat in the corner to catch her breath.

Her meeting with Ino had been less than enjoyable, though it had gone more or less as how Sakura had expected. Sakura had known Ino since they were children, and when it came to romance and boys, Ino was incredibly predictable.

After Sakura had arrived at Ino's home, the Yamanaka clan Shinobi had promptly broken down into a tearful confession about how her reluctant date with Shikamaru had extrapolated into something far more serious. It was difficult to understand exactly what Ino was saying in between her hysterical sobbing and frequent trips to the bathroom for more tissue to blow her nose, but the gist of what Sakura had deciphered was that Ino felt awful about what she had done to Shikamaru and how badly she still wanted to go to the dance with him.

Or something to that extent. Near the end of Ino's sob story, she had broken down into incoherent wailing that ultimately concluded with her locking herself in the bathroom.

Sakura chuckled softly to herself at the memory. It was not that she was unsympathetic with Ino's plight. Indeed, one could easily argue that Ino was in this unfortunate predicament because of Sakura had forced her to ask Shikamaru out in the first place. Still, Sakura knew Ino better than almost anyone else, and she knew how fickle Ino was when it came to romance. Ino was the type of girl who only desired the unobtainable. Initially, Ino had wanted nothing to do with Shikamaru; the only reason why she was so upset no was because he had had the balls to turn her away. Their was no romantic chemistry between the two; nothing inherent that existed between the two that mysteriously drew them together.

It may have sounded mean, but Sakura had witnessed the same scenario far too many times in the past to be convinced that her friend was genuinely in love this time. In all likelihood, Ino would spend another few hours crying, then dry her tears and charm the first cute boy in her phone book to the dance. Or she could always just mind control him, Sakura supposed, if worst came to worst.

Tragically, though, Sakura did not have the luxury of being as popular as Ino nor having the gift of mind control. She was dateless, and barring some sort of miracle, doomed to go alone to the biggest dance of the year.

Sakura glanced around the ramen bar anxiously. In all honesty, her stop at the ramen bar had not been entirely random. This was the third ramen she had visited since leaving Ino's home. There was a part of her that hoped she would bump into Naruto at one of them, and maybe, just maybe she could persuade him to go to the dance with her again.

The chances of that happening, Sakura had to admit, were so dismally low that she almost felt pathetic for trying. If rumors were to be believed, Hinata's father had flipped after finding out about their misadventure in the sewer and had banned Hinata from ever seeing Naruto again. According to popular gossip, Hinata's dad had confined her to the mansion and wouldn't let her go anywhere in fear of her running into Naruto. This meant school, and also, more importantly, the dance.

While this may have sounded like wonderful news for Sakura, she knew that Naruto would probably refrain from going to the dance all together so that Hinata could go. He was far too nice of a guy that way. He would gladly stay home alone on the biggest night of his high school career if it meant not ruining the night for one of his friends.

Not that Naruto's thoughtfulness helped Sakura at all. She sighed in frustration and picked at the wooden table's surface idly with her nails. Before the night was over, she needed to find a date. But it couldn't be just any sort of guy. It had to be someone impressive, someone that would put even the magnificent Sasuke to shame.

Sakura snorted. _Good luck with that,_ she thought bitterly. Maybe a some big shot celebrity with a thing for underage pink-haired teenagers would waltz in the bar. Or maybe an asteroid would fall and squash the ramen bar flat. That would certainly save Sakura the trouble of worrying about finding a date.

She must have lost track of time wallowing in her misery because by the time Sakura ended up leaving the bar, night had already fallen. Most of the stores down the road had already been closed, and the night air was colder than ever. She groaned and shivered uncomfortably as she set down the road. Her home was still more than three miles away. It was an easy enough of a walk during the day when the sun was out, but at night in the cold, it would be nothing short of torturous.

Sakura glanced at the building rooftops above and considered scaling up there. Bounding across building tops would be much quicker than walking, but Sakura resisted the urge. The villagers did not appreciate it when Shinobi used their roofs as roads. In the past, far too frequently an inexperienced ninja would misstep and accidentally put a foot through some poor soul's ceiling. As a result, only Chunin class Shinobi or higher were allowed to traverse the rooftops. A hefty fine was the punishment for any Genin that violated the law.

Sakura moaned pitifully as she reluctantly trudged through the snow.

A loud beeping caused her to stop. Driving in tandem beside her was sleek, stylish, and obviously expensive, red sports car. Sakura stared blankly at it as it continued to follow as she walked down the road. The windows were tinted so Sakura couldn't see who was driving. Only villagers drove automobiles, and even then, only a very few could afford a car as fancy as this one.

Curious to see who could possibly be interested in her, Sakura stopped and the car came to a rest next to her. The window mechanically rolled down. Sasuke was sitting behind the wheel with an amused smirk on his face.

"So," he said. "How much for a night with a beautiful woman such as yourself? A single hand in cards perhaps?"

"Piss off," Sakura snapped with an ugly scowl. She had not forgotten the time that Sasuke had almost sold her in a game of cards earlier that year during their "field trip". She began to walk off again, hoping that Sasuke would grow tired of teasing her and drive off. He didn't though, and instead stepped on the gas so that his car rolled slowly beside her.

"Hey, come on I was just joking," Sasuke said. "Do you want a ride home or not?"

"Not with you." Sakura replied.

"It's cold outside," Sasuke insisted. "You're going to catch a cold, and how would you look showing up at the dance with a running nose, huh?"

Sakura stopped abruptly, forcing Sasuke to step on the brake quickly to avoid passing her up. She glanced back and forth at Sasuke's extravagant sports car, silently contemplating her options., On one hand, riding in a fancy sports car with Sasuke was not an entirely unattractive prospect. She had always wondered what it felt like to ride in luxury and style, and it would certainly beat trudging home through the cold and snow. On the other, though, she imagined it might be awkward being alone with Sasuke. Had he already gotten over her rejecting his offer to the dance, or was this merely some revenge plot that he was subtly concocting?

In the end, Sakura's desire to escape the cold outweighed her suspicion about Sasuke and she climbed into the passenger's side of the car.

"Nice car," Sakura commented. It was. The seats were lined with some sort of fur that was incredibly soft and extremely warm. "Who'd you have to sleep with to get a ride like this?"

"The list is long but distinguished I assure you," Sasuke quipped. He floored the gas pedal, causing the engine to rev loudly and the car to shoot down the empty street. Sakura watched as pedestrians and storefronts whipped by in an incoherent blur of color and motion. There was absolutely no need to be driving this fast; clearly Sasuke was trying to impress her.

"I've never seen you drive a car before," she commented.

Sasuke shrugged. "It was my fathers. He insisted on having one just so that the villagers could envy our wealth as much as the Shinobi community."

Sakura nodded. She had always known that Sasuke had come from an incredibly wealthy family, but this was one of the few times that she had witnessed it. Sasuke seldom flaunted his wealth. He wore clothes that were practical and sharp without ever being stylish or ostentatious like some of the other rich kids at Konoha High. He did not wear jewelry, he walked to school instead of being chauffeured, and he never boasted about how much money he had in his savings account.

All things considered, Sasuke acted like a normal kid. It was his looks, his prodigious talent, and his enigmatic bad boy attitude, not his wealth, that had won him popularity amongst the girls at Konoha High.

"It's got to beat walking in the snow too." Sakura added.

"That it does."

"You need to turn up-" Sakura began, but before she could finish, Sasuke had already started turning. Sakura reclined in her seat and shot Sasuke a curious look. It was almost as if Sasuke knew where he was going, as if he had had somehow anticipated running into Sakura and had already mapped out the route back to her home.

"How do you know where I live?" asked Sakura suspiciously, almost accusingly.

"I've been there before," Sasuke replied. He pointed at his nose. Sakura noticed it was still a little swollen. "Remember when your buddy Naruto punched me?"

"Oh, right," Sakura replied sheepishly, blushing.

"What, you think I've been driving around town for hours waiting for the opportunity to ferry you home?" Sasuke asked with a wry grin. "That's mighty presumptuous of you, don't you think?"

"Shut up," snapped Sakura. Her ears were blazing hot. "That's not what I was thinking."

"Sure it wasn't." Sasuke winked at her and patted the steering wheel. "Don't worry. It didn't cost me too much following you around. This car has great mileage."

Sakura looked away, determined to not let Sasuke see how brilliant a shade of crimson had face had become.

"So what were you doing there?" she asked, still not daring to look Sasuke in the eye yet.

"Besides following you around town? Let's see..." Sasuke tapped his chin thoughtfully. "I was doing my weekly grocery shopping."

"Do you cook?" Sakura inquired.

"A little."

"You don't have servants or anything to do that for you?"

Sasuke laughed dryly. "Please, Sakura. I'm only rich because my parents had loads of money. That doesn't mean I'm pampered and helpless too. I don't need servants. I can take care of myself."

"Sorry," Sakura muttered. She could feel her face growing warm again. It had seemed like an innocent enough of a question, but Sakura could tell she had touched a nerve. Sasuke's amiable demeanor might have appeared to be intact, but she did not miss the glimpse of irritation and anger that had flared in his eyes just then.

They drove in silence for a few more minutes until Sasuke came to a stop in front of Sakura's house.

"Thanks for the ride," Sakura said, opening the car door. She was anxious to get out of the car, anxious to get away from Sasuke before she accidentally said something else thoughtless that might upset him. Strangely, the moment she walked out into the cold she felt a fleeting pang to hastily retreat back into the car. Whether it was the car's warmth or Sasuke's company that she unconsciously desired, however, she was not certain.

"Hey, Sakura," Sasuke called to her. "I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me.

She did not respond for a second, monetarily startled by his unexpected invitation. "Tonight?"

"Sure. Eating with company is always better than eating alone. Unless, of course, you have previous arrangements?"

Sakura didn't. She was home late, and her mother had probably left her food in the refrigerator. Eating cold left overs in her room while watching reruns on television was not a terribly inviting prospect.

"I'm not really hungry right now," she lied. She was famished actually; the last meal she had had was in the hospital that morning. Unfortunately, that was the exact moment her stomach decided to betray her by rumbling loudly.

Sasuke grinned wickedly. "Liar." He said. "Come on, it'll be fun. And my cooking is delicious. I promise."

Sakura glanced at her doorway through a curtain of light snow that had just begun to fall. There was a part of her that wanted to do the smart thing and just go home. Play it safe and just call it a night. If the car ride back home had been awkward, Sakura could only imagine how tense it would be eating dinner with Sasuke. Besides, there was something about him that didn't seem right, something that made Sakura feel genuinely nervous. He was being unusually nice, and if Sakura's mother's sagely advice could be trusted, boys were only nice when they wanted something.

But what could he possibly want? The obvious answer was sex, but such a simple explanation for this elaborate setup seemed to do a disservice to Sasuke's renowned craftiness. If her suspicions were correct and Sasuke motive's extended beyond being chivalrous and friendly, he desired something far more meaningful than merely getting her into the sack. Besides, Sasuke couldn't possibly be dense enough to think that a flashy car, a home cooked meal, and his trademark charm would seduce her.

There was also a part of her, though, that wanted nothing more than to get back into the car with Sasuke and see where things went from there. As much as there was something about Sasuke that made her suspicious, there was just as much that excited her as well. There was no denying the rapid beating of her heart nor how short of breath she had suddenly become. No matter how many times she told herself she had gotten over Sasuke, he seemed to always have this effect on her.

_Damn you, Sasuke. _She thought, clenching her fists together in frustration.

"Oh what the hell," she whispered under her breath.

With once last fleeting glance back at her home, she returned to her seat beside Sasuke. It was just dinner. What was the worst that could possibly happen? "Let's go."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Told you guys I would have more time to write! I have the next chapter finished also (will upload sometime next week) and am making good headway on the one after that as well! Story traffic has been noticeably slower for this chapter (including reviews also -only six so far as of publish date -the lowest number any chapter has gotten so far) so I hope you guys are still reading. Reviews tell me you guys are still reading and motivates me to keep writing! So, if you do review regularly, thanks a bunch!

Hope you guys are enjoying the story, and I hope you guys have a wonderful Holiday season!

Cheers,  
JA-Japster


	54. Chapter 54

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster

Copyright Notice: Don't own Naruto.

**Chapter Fifty-Four: The Unnoticed Significance of an Unintended Meal**

It was a terrible start to Sakura's dinner date, and one that she was pretty certain only someone as clumsy and unfortunate as herself was capable of. She was sitting in front of the Uchiha clan's stone fireplace, shivering uncontrollably with a towel draped around her shoulders. Her clothes were thoroughly soaked and droplets of freezing cold water dripped steadily from her matted pink hair. Sakura's teeth chattered incessantly as she scooted closer towards the roaring fire, gratefully soaking in its inviting warmth.

They had arrived at the Uchiha estate only minutes earlier. The mansion and its surrounding grounds was only a few miles away from Sakura's home -she knew the location well. In middle school, Ino, herself, and a group of Sasuke's other admirers would regularly walk there and wait outside the estate gates with their cameras, hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol at home. They seldom did. Sasuke had rarely ever left the estate when not busy with school activities, but despite that, Sasuke's devote fan club had zealously maintained their watchful vigil outside his doorstep for far too many years.

Inside the estate grounds there was a pond that had frozen over. Beneath the layer of ice and frost, she could see a number of colorful fish darting back and forth. Sakura, being her normal curious self, had decided to take a closer look.

"Is it solid?" Sakura had asked Sasuke who had walked over to see what she was looking at.

Sasuke had shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't think it'd be very smart to find out though."

Naturally, Sakura had interpreted that as a challenge and, with a defiant grin, had stepped out onto the ice.

It turned out the ice wasn't solid after all. Her foot smashed through the ice like it was made of paper, and her momentum sent her crashing into the freezing cold water below. Her shock and surprise didn't even allow her a chance to summon chakra to keep her afloat before she found herself struggling to keep her head above the water with her soaked clothes weighing her down. Sasuke had chuckled in amusement before reaching down to drag Sakura out of the water.

So there she was, sitting in the Uchiha clan's living room, trying her best not to die from hypothermia while Sasuke was in the kitchen cooking both of them dinner.

"Perfect'" Sakura muttered darkly to herself. "Just perfect."

Not only was she well on her way to catching a cold before the dance, but Sasuke probably thought she was an idiot. Sakura wasn't as obsessed with impressing her classmates as she used to be, but regardless, it was hard not to feel a little self-conscious after stepping into a pond because of her own innate stubbornness and stupidity.

"Hey," Sasuke said as he entered the living room. There was a pile of folded clothes in his arms. "I thought you might want to change into these."

"Thanks," said Sakura, gratefully taking the clothes from him.

"Dinner is almost ready. I'll come get you in a minute." Sasuke turned and left so she could get dressed in privacy.

She inspected the garments curiously. She had expected Sasuke to bring her some of his spare clothes, but much to her surprise she was holding a simple cotton blouse and leggings that were clearly of a feminine cut. Either Sasuke wore women's clothes in the privacy of his own home or this was not the first time one of Sakura's female guests had had need of a spare set of clothes.

She scowled slightly as she changed out of her wet clothes and into the ones Sasuke had given her. She supposed it made sense that Sasuke might have extra women's clothes around the house. After all, it was Uchiha Sasuke she was talking about, only the most popular guy in Konoha High. How many other women had Sasuke had over before? Some of them had to have spent the night with him and needed clean clothes in the morning, right?

The thought that she was wearing the clothes worn by one of Sasuke's previous girlfriends repulsed her. Even though the clothes she was wearing were clean and freshly pressed, they suddenly felt even dirtier than the soaked and mud stained clothes that Sakura had just changed out of. For a moment, she entertained the thought of changing back into them, but just then Sasuke reentered the room.

"Do they fit alright?" Sasuke asked. He was wearing covered in grease stains and more than a few scorch marks.

"Yeah, just fine," Sakura replied, forcing a smile that she hoped look more playful than disgusted. "Do you keep clothes here for every girl that falls into your pond?"

"I guess. I have a whole wardrobe of them," Sasuke said with a small shrug. "They're my mother's old clothes."

"Oh." Sakura looked at the floor. Her stomach still churned at the thought of the clothes she wore, only now her revulsion was more directed at herself than at Sasuke. Sakura wasn't sure why she had automatically decided to think the worst of Sasuke. Maybe it was because she still wasn't sure why he was being so nice to her all of a sudden. Distorting his kindness with negativity seemed to be the only way Sakura could keep her opinion of Sasuke in perspective.

This new, nice Sasuke was not the Sasuke that she was familiar with. Cold hearted, a jackass, self-absorbed, self-righteous, a bully -that was more like the Sasuke that she had known her entire life. As much as his uncharacteristic amiability was confusing her, Sakura had to admit she kind of liked it.

There was more to Sasuke than just the jerk he pretended to be; Sakura had seen this side of him a few times before. There was a humane side to Sasuke that lurked beneath his rough exterior, though admittedly, Sasuke hid it very well. And maybe that was the part of him that she was genuinely attracted to. Not the prodigy. Not the bad boy. Sasuke. The human.

"Well, dinner is ready." Sasuke said, gesturing her to follow him into the next room.

The Uchiha estate's massive dining hall was a testament to both the size and wealth that the clan had once been renowned for. Paneled with the finest teak, its walls covered in silk tapestries and beautiful paintings, and lit by a crystal chandelier that rotated above their heads, the dining hall put even the most opulent restaurants in Konoha to shame. In the center of it was a long, wooden table that stretched from one end of the room to the other. It could have easily sat the entire, extended Uchiha family at once, and if the dozens of chairs that surrounded the table were any indication, it had done just that on several occasions.

Sasuke motioned for her to sit near the head of the table. The chair reserved for that spot, Sakura noticed, had been removed. He went back into the kitchen for a minute, and when he reappeared he was holding two large plates covered in food.

"Chicken curry and rice with assorted vegetables," Sasuke announced, placing one of the plates in front of Sakura. "Enjoy."

Sakura picked up her chopsticks and cautiously took a bite. The dish looked and smelled amazing, but she was always wary of any guy's cooking. Some of the best chefs in the world may have been male, but ironically, almost all the men in Sakura's life were terrible cooks. Her father, for instance, could burn water, and Sakura knew for a fact that Naruto survived off of ramen because the last time he had attempted to cook, the school's dormitory had caught on fire.

Her apprehension about Sasuke's cooking quickly vanished though with the first mouthful of curry. It tasted absolutely divine. She closed her eyes and savored the taste, letting its flavor wash over her tongue. Sakura had eaten more than her share of curry in her life, but Sasuke's was exceptional. The sauce was just thick enough, the chicken moist and tender, and the vegetables seasoned perfectly. Eagerly, she dug into her plate with a newfound gusto.

"You're a pretty decent cook," Sakura commented in between mouthfuls of food.

"Just decent?" Sasuke wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure my curry tastes a tad better," she replied. It was a lie of course. Sakura considered herself a fairly competent cook, but she couldn't imagine making a curry this good. "But it's not bad."

Sasuke smirked. "Maybe you can teach me sometime."

Sakura nodded and poked at her food with her chopsticks. She had lied intentionally to see how Sasuke would react. The Sasuke she knew would have either challenged her to a cook-off right there on the spot or would have snorted disbelievingly. Instead...wait...was he flirting with her?

"So..." Sakura said. "Did you find someone to go to the dance with yet?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Haven't found the right person yet. You're still going with Naruto?"

Sakura also shook her head. "You haven't heard? Naruto sort of...well...I dumped him."

That was only half true, but apparently Sasuke didn't know the full story, which was strange. Though he would never admit to being interested in the intrigue of high school politics and romances, no student at Konoha High, especially someone as popular as Sasuke, was stupid enough not to remain current on the latest school gossip.

"That was probably smart." Sasuke replied casually. "You deserve someone better than that moron anyway."

"Think so?" Sakura put down her chopsticks and studied Sasuke's face, carefully searching him for something that would reveal what he was getting at. Sasuke was flirting with her. That much was obvious. But why?

"Definitely," he smiled.

"Like who?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll find the right person."

Slightly disappointed by Sasuke's answer, Sakura frowned sadly and returned to her food. If Sasuke was still interested in taking her to the dance again, that would have been the ideal opportunity. She had suspected perhaps the car ride home and then the dinner had all been an elaborate build up to Sasuke asking her out, but apparently she had misinterpreted the situation.

They ate and made small talk for several more minutes when suddenly Sakura's phone beeped. She dug it out of her pocket and glanced at the text message that was glowing on screen.

"Damn it," she muttered. "My mom wants me home."

Sasuke wiped his mouth with his napkin. "Sure. I probably shouldn't have asked you out so late anyway. I'll drive you home."

Sasuke lent Sakura one of his winter coats as hers was still drying by the fire, and together they walked towards the front door of the estate. He excused himself for a second to grab his keys from the next room.

Standing there alone in the entryway to the Uchiha homestead, Sakura took a moment to look around. There was nothing remarkable about the mansion's entrance. In fact, it was so unremarkable compared to the dining hall that it looked almost intentional. The furnishing was sparse; what few pieces of furniture remained were covered in dust from years of disuse. Portraits of prominent Uchiha members were covered in cobwebs, and unkempt, rusting suits of samurai armor that bore the Uchiha crest on its breastplate stood on either side of the front door.

Sasuke could have easily hired someone to maintain the mansion. He had the money. Instead, Sasuke seemed content to let the estate slowly decay and degrade on its own.

It was sad. The moment that Sasuke's family died, it was if their home had died with them.

The only thing in the entryway that looked as though it had been touched recently was a small, framed photograph that rested on a nearby table. Sakura leaned over to look at it.

It was a picture of Sasuke's family. A handsome, dignified looking man and a smiling, beautiful woman stood in front of a blossoming tree. In front of them stood their two boys. A young Sasuke was easily recognizable, but his trademark scowl and smirk had yet to develop. Instead, Sasuke was smiling broadly in the picture, proudly displaying a gap in his front teeth. The boy standing beside Sasuke could only be his brother, Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi. The betrayer. He looked so innocent in the photograph, so energetic and boyishly handsome. There was a huge smile on Itachi's face as well, and his arm was draped affectionately over his little brother's shoulder.

The photo was dated almost ten years ago. It had to have been taken months, maybe only weeks or even days, before Itachi had murdered his parents and the rest of the clan.

_Did they know? _Sakura wondered, her fingertips tracing across Itachi's smiling face. _Did they suspect that a monster lurked deep within you?_

It was a question, Sakura was sure, Sasuke asked himself every time he saw the picture.

"It's a reminder," Sasuke said. Sakura turned around, startled. Sasuke was standing behind her, his keys clenched tightly in his hand. He walked towards Sakura and took the photograph off the table. "A reminder of everything that I lost that day."

He placed the picture back down on the table. There was a sad smile on his face, a tortured look that Sakura had never seen before. She felt as though she had accidentally intruded on something that was private to Sasuke, something so painful that he only trusted himself to endure it.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said. "It must still be hard."

Sasuke did not reply.

The drive back to her home was uneventful and uncomfortably quiet. Sasuke seemed preoccupied with something and Sakura decided to leave Sasuke alone with his thoughts. The car came to a stop in front of Sakura's house, and Sasuke turned off the engine. They sat there for a moment, fresh snow falling gracefully around them, in complete silence.

"Thanks for dinner," Sakura said awkwardly. She wasn't sure if Sasuke was upset with her, if he was busy thinking about something, or if he was merely bored. He had a face that was impossible to read, a face that relayed only the emotions that he wanted. When Sasuke said nothing in reply, Sakura sighed and reached for the door handle. This was hardly how she had envisioned a date with Sasuke ending. It was far from ideal.

"Sakura, wait." Sasuke said suddenly.

"What is it?"

Sasuke abruptly leaned across the car and kissed Sakura on the lips. At first, Sakura was taken aback when their lips met, but then closed her eyes and soaked it in. It wasn't the first kiss that she had shared with Sasuke, but as bursts of euphoric light blossomed in her head and numbing bliss washed over her body, she had to admit it was every bit as pleasurable.

"So," Sasuke said. He drew back from Sakura, but only slightly so that their lips still hovered only inches apart. "Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Sakura's response was to grab him by the neck and pull him towards her. Their mouths met again in a rough, sloppy, almost savage kiss that bruised both their lips, but the sheer esctacy more than marginalized the pain. Panting for breath, Sakura pushed Sasuke back against the driver's seat window and leaned over him, her lips never leaving his for a moment. Sasuke tried to put up a hand to support them, but it slipped on the fogged glass and the two spilled over onto his seat. It was a cramped, uncomfortable fit. Sasuke's rib was wedged against the gear shift and Sakura's head kept bumping into the steering wheel, but they were oblivious to the inconvenience. They continued kissing one another, each kiss becoming more and more passionate and longer than the next, lost in their own personal world of pleasure.

Sasuke tried to sit up to find a more comfortable position and his arm accidentally bumped into the horn. It blared loudly, shattering the night's silence and forcing the two lovers to disengage. The horn, no doubt, would send Sakura's father outside to investigate the commotion, and he would not be pleased to find his only daughter making out with a boy in a fancy sports car.

"Call me later?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura nodded and kissed him one more time before opening the door. Her breath quivered, her face was flushed, and her trembling legs almost sent her toppling into the snow. It was only when Sasuke's car disappeared around a corner did Sakura finally manage to regain control over her body. She forced herself to calm down until her breathing steadied, but even then she found it difficult to walk straight as she made her way down the snowy walkway towards her front door. Her lips still pleasantly tingled, and when she closed her eyes, Sakura could swear she could still taste Sasuke's kiss.

Sakura hated to think of herself as the kind of girl who got love struck, but there really was no other word for the way she felt at the moment. She had hoped she had developed beyond this sort of obsessive puppy love, but after kissing Sasuke seconds earlier, it had become quite clear that she hadn't. As turbulent as their relationship had been in the past, one thing was now for certain. Sakura was irrevocably and hopelessly in love with Sasuke.

Her hands were still shaking as she dug into her pockets for the house key. Sakura was about to open the door, but before she could, the door slowly creaked open. Sakura inhaled sharply. Was it her father? Has he been waiting for her? Had he been watching her all along?

It swung open, and Sakura braced herself for the worst. But it was only Naruto who stood in the doorway, his arms crossed and a frown of disapproval on his face. "Where the hell have you been all evening?" He snapped accusingly.

Sakura sighed in relief and rolled her eyes as she brushed past him and headed upstairs to her room.

He followed her, his nose sniffing. "And why in the world do you smell like Sasuke?"

* * *

Author's Notes  
Hey guys. Good to see a few more reviews than last week's chapter come in (thanks to all those who did review!) -it's certainly very motivating when I know people actually are taking the time to read and appreciate the story. So, if you haven't reviewed yet, please take a few seconds just to comment that you are still reading. Bonus points if you want to add something you like or dislike about the story so far.

Other than that, same old same old. If you have any comments or criticism, I always take the time to read it no matter how disparaging it may be. I have the next (almost) three chapters written and those will be uploaded in the near future barring any unforeseen delays!

Hope you guys had a great Holiday and a Happy New Year!


	55. Chapter 55

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster  
Copyright Notice: Naruto is not mine. But this story is. Sort of.

**Chapter Fifty Five: Long Overdue **

It took Uchiha Itachi longer to return to the rendezvous than he had expected, and it was not until evening the following day did the renegade Shinobi enter the remote cave that had served as the Akatsuki's makeshift hideout for the last several months. Normally, Itachi should have been able to make the same journey in half the time, but something was bothering the raven-haired Shinobi, something that distracted him on a subconscious level and had slowed his travel.

Itachi frowned as he entered the cave and sat down on a moss covered boulder. He worried that his listlessness was the resurgence of some lingering emotion that he had somehow failed to extinguish over the years. Was it guilt, perhaps, for what he had just done to his little brother? It was possible, but doubtful. Itachi had done far worst in the past without feeling even the slightest pang of remorse

He did not need to wait long before the rest of the Akatsuki arrived. More members entered the cave one by one shortly after Itachi's arrival, and in total, there were six robed figures huddled in the cramped cave. Itachi noticed that their leader, the shadowy head of their underground organization, had selected not to grace them with their presence once again.

"It's the eve of our finest hour and he isn't here to share it with us?" muttered Kisame darkly, observing the same thing as Itachi, with a fanged scowl of obvious disapproval.

"Fucking typical that lazy fuck," snarled a man with light blond hair. At the sound of the man's voice, Itachi felt an involuntary spasm in his jaw as his teeth clenched together in annoyance.

Uncouth, foul mouthed and obnoxious, Hidan the Immortal was yet another member of the Akatsuki that Itachi would have loved the opportunity to murder. Unfortunately, the "Immortal" part of Hidan's name was not without merit, and it was rumored that the man simply could not be killed by conventional means. It was a fact, Itachi was sad to admit, that had complicated his initial plans to stab Hidan to death in his sleep.

"He has more important matters to deal with than to baby sit you," snapped Akatsuki's only female member. She was standing stiffly in the center of the cavern, her brown hair tied up in a severe looking bun. Her hazel eyes sternly glared out at her partners in crime. "So he sent me in his place."

"With all due respect, Konan," Orochimaru said. His voice was silky and smooth as always, but there was no missing the clear irritation in his voice "I have everything under control and hardly require your supervision."

"He does not share your optimism," Konan replied, her accusing gaze falling squarely on Orochimaru. "And neither do I. Until this operation is complete, I will be monitoring every move carefully to ensure its executed exactly as planned."

Itachi had to struggle to suppress a gleeful smile as Orochimaru glowered darkly at Konan. There was nothing he enjoyed more than watching that sly, fork-tongued bastard be discredited for being the inept fool that he was.

"I don't need some little girl supervising me," hissed Orochimaru. He made a move towards Konan, his hands thrust out as if to wrap around her throat, but suddenly he found there was nothing to grab.

The moment he touched her, Konan's body transformed. As if by magic, her body fragmented and slid apart into hundreds of separate pieces of paper. They whirled around through the air, flowing gracefully with the gusts of wind that entered the cave, surrounding the other shinobi in a thick blizzard of swirling pieces of parchment. Then, as quickly as Konan's body had vanished, the papers converged and she rematerialized behind Orochimaru with a kunai pressed firmly against his throat.

"A neat trick," snarled Orochimaru, clearly not impressed by the threat of a sharp blade held against his jugular.

Itachi rolled his eyes. It seemed like every one of their little meetings ended up like this with a member of the Akatsuki quite literally at another member's throat. Never mind actually achieving their goals, it was a miracle that their group of dysfunctional and homicidal, renegade ninjas finished their briefings without bloodshed. Frankly, Itachi considered each day that they avoided killing one another a win in Akatsuki's book.

Not that he did anything to help maintain the peace, of course. When it came to secretly plotting the murder of an Akatsuki member, Itachi was one of the most guilty. But at least he did it on his own time instead of insisting on wasting everyone's time with these meaningless theatrics.

"Enough," said Itachi quietly but with a firmness that demanded compliance. "We have enough work to do before tomorrow evening as it is, and I don't think anyone feels like doing more than their share because you idiots killed one another."

Orochimaru nodded stiffly. "Of course, Itachi is correct." He turned to Konan. "I apologize." In other words, _some other time, bitch._

"Likewise," Konan responded, meaning _I'd gladly cut your throat out, _and stowed away her weapon.

Orochimaru turned to the other Shinobi. "As planned, our troops are in position and are prepared to attack when the moment is right."

Itachi was only half listening as Orochimaru continued laying out their strategy. He knew the plan by heart already because he had been instrumental in executing it thus far. From arranging meetings with underworld criminals like the deceased Gato, to working behind the scenes in more shadowy capacities, everything that he had done this past year had been integral in getting Akatsuki to where it was today.

A rare chill of excitement coursed up Itachi's spine at the thought of what would transpire the following evening. For years Akatsuki had been working tireless towards this day, and now they were on the brink of finally seeing their dream come to fruition.

His eagerness, however, was tempered by an appropriate measure of wariness. Even with the most careful planning, however, Itachi knew nothing was guaranteed. Despite the many times they had revised their strategy and edited their scheme to be as flawless as possible, when it came to shinobi, there were far too many variables to consider for any revisable plan to be perfect. Regardless, Itachi was confident of one thing.

No matter what happened, after tomorrow evening, the world would never be the same again.

"You each have your responsibilities," Orochimaru told each of the Akatsuki members. "With any luck, the next time we meet, victory will be ours."

"Yeah, fuck you, jerk off" muttered Hidan as he plodded off with the others.

Itachi turned to join the rest of the departing Akatsuki shinobi, but Konan stopped him before he could leave.

"Itachi, stay and speak with me for a second."

He paused in mid-step. "What?" he inquired, not bothering to turn to face her.

"You're a renegade Shinobi from Konoha."

Slowly, almost lazily, his face turned and glowered at Konan. "What of it?"

Much to her credit, Konan did not cower in the wake of Itachi's menacing demeanor as a lesser ninja may have. She met his gaze with a cool, resolved confidence. If she was intimidated or frightened by him, she did an admirable job of disguising it. Nonetheless, Itachi noticed when she spoke, she was considerably less cavalier than when she had conversed with Orichimaru earlier. Her words were chosen deliberately and with care. It was respect, perhaps, for Itachi's infamous reputation.

"Our leader wants to be sure he can trust you fully to execute the plan. It would take a truly soulless, cold blooded bastard to betray his country and feel absolutely no remorse."

"And yet Orochimaru has his confidence?" Itachi remarked with no small amount of irony in his voice.

"Orochimaru is merely a tool who merits little concern," she replied dismissively. "You, on the other hand, are actually worthy of meriting concern and suspicion.."

"I'm flattered," the renegade Konoha shinobi said in a sardonic tone that clearly indicated he was anything but. "Doubt me if you wish. It makes no differences to me."

"No one doubts your loyalty to our cause," Konan reassured him. "I merely need your assurance that there are no ties with Konoha that will prevent you from doing your job."

Itachi smirked and with a swish of his cloak, turned and walked towards the mouth of the cave. "Believe me, Konan," he said. "I already killed all of my clan ten years ago. Destroying the rest of Konoha is long overdue."

* * *

It was not often that the Hokage had the opportunity to appreciate the sunset. Her office's expansive windows provided a spectacular, panoramic view of it, but seldom did she find the time to even take a few moments to lean back in her chair and bask in all its natural splendor and beauty. Such as was the case now. As much as she would have loved to walk out on her balcony and admire the sun while its fading rays casted a warm, auburn hue over her beloved village, the mountains of administrative work piled on her desk denied her this pleasure. She could not even witness the sunset from behind her chair; the dense stacks of paperwork that haphazardly crowded her desk obscured her view of the window.

Tsunade sighed wearily as she picked up another stack of papers and began leafing through them. This particular gem that was in her hands was a proposal by Konoha's Street Maintenance Department requesting additional funds to help repair the roads once spring came. She was already familiar with the proposal as she had approved the same exact one the year prior. She quickly scrawled her signature on it and tossed it on a considerably smaller pile on the ground.

Most of her work as Hokage was purely clerical. Almost all these papers were documents that had already been thoroughly reviewed by another department and merely needed her signature or seal of approval before it could go into effect. On more than one occasion, the Hokage had been sorely tempted to pick up her stamp and and begin slamming it down on whatever piece of paper happened to come up. The job would be done just as efficiently in perhaps a quarter of the time it took to carefully review each individual document before signing off on them.

But as tempting of a prospect as that may have been, Tsunade was more than aware that not all the papers on her desk were quite as trivial as the one she had just signed. Intermixed with all the clerical work were documents that genuinely required her attention. She would have loved to skim through all the papers and be done with them in an hour, but it would certainly be no good if she accidentally reallocated funds away from their schools and invested it in Konoha's red light district. It was an extreme, hypothetical circumstance, granted, but it was not an impossible one given some of the ridiculous garbage that found its way on her desk.

She stifled a yawn as she reached for another paper. Tsunade had clearly understood the significance of her job when she had accepted it. It was mundane most of the time, but it was the Hokage's duty to perform it to the best of their abilities.

A soft knocking on her office door made Tsunade pause and glare irritably at it. She glanced at her clock and her expression darkened. She still needed to finish all this work, and then she had to review the itinerary for Konoha High's Christmas dance. The dance was the day after next, and tragically, there was still much work to do. Even though the instructors and faculty were handling most of the planning, Tsunade still had her work cut out for her. She knew the kids at school looked forward to the dance all year long, but there was no time of year that stressed out the Hokage more.

"Enter," Tsunade muttered. The door opened, and Tsunade groaned when her friend, Jiraiya, came sauntering in holding a bottle of sake. His face was cherry red and his wobbly gait suggested he had just come from a bar.

"What do you want?" she demanded, annoyed.

Jiraiya smiled craftily and hefted up the sake bottle invitingly.

"I have work to do!" Tsunade protested incredulously as she gestured to the piles of paper on her desk.

"So what?" her old friend slurred drunkenly. Before Tsunade could stop him, he pushed the papers off the Hokage's desk and sent them spilling onto the floor. He beamed at her cheerfully. "There. It's all gone now."

"You idiot" Tsunade shrieked. She grabbed him by the collar of his robes and raised a fist menacingly. "Do you know how long it's going to take to organize all those papers again?"

"You can do them in the morning. They're already on the floor. You might as well just leave them there." Jiraiya replied with a shrug. He tossed Tsunade the bottle of sake.

Tsunade caught it and looked at the bottle. It was already half empty. She glanced at all the papers on her office floor and groaned. It would take hours to clean up this mess, and bending over to start was the last thing Tsunade wanted to do at this point.

"You're such an asshole," Tsunade growled as she popped the cork on the bottle and took a long swig.

"That's my girl." Jiraiya said, sitting on the corner of her desk.

Tsunade exhaled deeply. She reclined deep into her chair, perched her bare feet up on Jiraiya's lap, and took another long drink from the bottle. "We really need to stop doing this."

It was depressing how familiar of a scene this was. Jiraiya had been pulling stunts like this for years now. She remembered back in high school he had snuck into her dorm room the day before final exams and had persuaded her into spending the rest of the night doing shots with him instead of studying. They had both gotten drunk, and, completely hung over, stumbled to class a few hours later for their exams.

Tsunade had still gotten the second highest grade in their class. Jiraiya had failed miserably.

"So, planning on going to the dance?" Jiraiya inquired.

"I'll be doing work most of the time, but I'll make an appearance later in the night." She grinned. "Why? Going to try your luck and ask me to be your date again?"

Jiraiya laughed. They both remembered how well things had gone the last time Jiraiya had been foolish enough to ask Tsunade out. "If only you had the same body but your face was twenty years younger," he said with a lecherous nod in the direction of her breasts.

"Pig," Tsunade snarled. She would have kicked him out of the office with a good thump on his head for good measure, but the sake bottle was almost empty now and she was feeling pretty tipsy.

They sat there in silence for several more minutes, wordlessly passing the sake bottle back and forth until it was empty. Jiraiya tossed it in the corner somewhere where it shattered loudly. Tsunade was too tired and too drunk to yell at him.

"You know I would ask you to the dance," Jiraiya said. He began stroking her feet, gently, almost affectionately. His hands were cold and rough, but all the same Tsunade thought it felt surprisingly good. "If I didn't have to go to the border and help bolster our defenses."

Tsunade smiled. "Tough luck, lover boy. I have enough things to worry about, and I'd feel a lot better if I know you're in charge of making sure the country is safe."

With the threat of war looming so ominously on the horizon, a night like the Christmas dance would be the ideal time for the enemy to strike. Like Kakashi had told her earlier, having the dance was an enormous security hazard. It was also an unavoidable one. The council refused to allow her to cancel it, and so Tsunade merely had to do the best that she could. If the enemy decided to start war on the eve before Christmas, then, as Hokage, she had to be prepared for it.

"You know our spies indicate heavy troop movement on our border," Jiraiya commented.

"I've heard. Fortunately, most of the outlying towns and villages have been evacuated."

"Do you think they'll actually have the courage to start another war?"

Tsunade could only shrug her shoulders helplessly. Whether or not Rock and Lightening country were prepared for another Great Shinobi War was a question she had been pondering endlessly for weeks now. It had been two decades now since the end of the last war, and the world had only just begun to flourish again. It seemed foolish for anyone to want to threaten the stability and prosperity of this time and peace, but wars were not traditionally waged by the most rational of minds.

Jiraiya let out a low whistle. "Can you imagine it? Our second Great Shinobi War? Think of the stories we'll be able to tell our kids."

"You want kids?" Tsunade asked skeptically. Jiraiya with children. That was a scary thought.

"Well not right now," Jiraiya replied honestly. "But if I do, it will be great to have some amazing stories to tell them, won't it?"

"I think I'd prefer telling them about how I sat behind a desk and filed papers all day."

"You'll make a terribly boring mother."

Tsunade had no arguments there. She had always been so busy as a member of Konoha's Medical Corp during the last Great Shinobi War and then as Hokage that she had never even considered having children. Her responsibilities to the village had always come before her personal life. Maybe if she somehow survived the next ten years without destroying Konoha she would have to sit down and reevaluate things. Right now, an entire nation was all she had the time and energy to be mother for.

"Danzo is still in charge of security for the dance?" Jiraiya asked. There was a hint of disapproval in his voice, and it comforted Tsunade immensely to know that her friend distrusted the ancient war hawk as much as she did.

Tsunade nodded. Danzo had not been her choice -the council had handpicked him for the job, and Tsunade had not opposed their decision.

"He's assigned the local police to ensure the school is secure for the dance," she told him.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Why would he get civilians to do a ninja's job?"

A wordless shrug was all Tsuande could do to answer that question. She had made it a point to not question everything Danzo did no matter how foolish or inane it might have appeared to be. It wasn't because she trusted that Dazno was doing the correct thing -far from it in fact. But she had to, at the very least, entertain the pretense that she trusted the man. After all, if she could not trust a famed war veteran and head of her intelligence network to provide protection for a bunch of high school students, then who could she possibly trust?

Tsunade closed her eyes and allowed herself a rare moment to relax. It was interrupted, however, she felt something wet and slimy on her feet. She blinked in surprise, and then frowned when she saw that her old friend had fallen fast asleep and was drooling on her feet. Tsunade smiled. Their friendship had never been really founded on conversation, which in Jiraiya's case, was a good thing. Jiraiya was a loud mouthed, obnoxious, perverted oaf, but she could always rely on him to be there to cheer her up when she needed it most

She was too tired to even move her feet, never mind resume her work on all the papers that currently were littered across the ground. Maybe Jiraiya was right. At the very least, it could wait for a few more hours, couldn't it?

Before Tsunade had a chance to argue with herself, she closed her eyes again and before she knew it, had dozed off as well.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
As always, thanks for the reviews! A few people noted that the story has been talking about the Winter Dance for almost a year now. Don't worry! It's coming up soon! As in two or three chapters soon! Promise!


	56. Chapter 56

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster  
Copyright Notice: Naruto isn't mind. This fanfic is. Sort of.

**Chapter Fifty Six: Hindsight**

Uzumaki Naruto had had plenty of bad days in his seventeen years of life. So many bad days, in fact, that Naruto had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he shared a tragically intimate relationship with misfortune. The majority of his childhood had been like one, long, bad day marked by isolation and loneliness; middle school had really been more of the same. Even in high school, though, Naruto's life seemed perpetually plagued by mishaps, misunderstandings, or plain bad luck. There had been a handful of bright moments, a few times where Naruto felt as though the world was finally on his side, but those rare occasions of hope had always been eclipsed by a dismal gloom from which Naruto could not escape.

He had had plenty of bad days, but today had to be one of the worst. Naruto decided this as he walked down the bare streets of Konoha, his hands thrust deeply in the pockets of his jacket.

It was freezing outside. Earlier that morning, the softly fallen snow had given way to torrential sleet that hailed down mercilessly on the city. Naruto had forgotten to check the weather before going out and had neglected to take an umbrella. A little light snow, he had thought as he left Sakura's house. Why even bother putting on a heavy coat for a quick walk?

So of course now he was drenched. His coat and his hair were soaked and clung to his skin in a chilly, unpleasant embrace.

Naruto walked briskly down the sidewalk, furtively glancing back and forth down the street for a store that was still open. There was none. They had all closed for the Holidays, meaning Naruto had a long, cold walk ahead of him before he arrived at his destination.

But the bad weather was not the reason why Naruto's day had been so exceptionally awful.

As Naruto gritted his teeth and plodded down the road, two of Naruto's classmates, a boy and a girl, from school sped past on the other side of the street. They were both giggling, their hands held tightly together, as they ran. They were not running to escape the rain, though. Naruto could tell they were barely aware of it. The way they smiled at one another with so much love and care, the way they laughed, the way their hands gently caressed; the couple was so much in love that not even terrible weather could possibly ruin their day.

Naruto stopped and watched them as they hurried past. He continued watching as they disappeared into the distance. There was a dull ache in his hands, and it was only when Naruto glanced down did he realize how tightly his fists were clenched. He was jealous of his classmates, envious of the love they so freely shared without any fear of repercussion or consequence. Naruto wanted what they could so freely have but he could not.

And that was why he was having such a horrible day.

The cold touch of rain dancing across his skin, Naruto exhaled deeply and forced his fists to relax. A small stream of blood trickled down the side of his hand from where his nails had dug too sharply into his flesh. It collected at his fingertips into small beads of crimson, and, as Naruto watched, fell in steady droplets to the wet pavement below.

Naruto turned his gaze upwards until it came to a rest on the Hyuga estate that loomed above the rest of the village. Somewhere in the distance, like a princess locked away in a tower by a jealous king, Hinata was waiting for him to come rescue her.

He wanted to see her so badly, to be together with her again if even for just a second. He wanted to feel the touch of her lips, hear her soft, melodious voice, to bask in the warmth that only Hinata's presence provided. But he could not. Even though it went against everything his heart screamed at him to do, Naruto refused to cause any more trouble for Hinata. He had seen the strife that his presence in her life had caused. He had seen the dangers. The last time Naruto had tried to be with her, he had almost gotten her and his friends killed. He considered himself fortunate that the only negative outcome of that debacle had been a permanent ban from ever seeing Hinata again.

Naruto had never considered himself a quitter, but this was one thing he knew he could not continue pursuing. For Hinata's sake. It was selfish to continue chasing after Hinata when it meant continuing to threaten both her safety and her relationship with her father.

"If only life were simpler," Naruto mused to himself. If only Hyuga Hiashi could be more understanding. If only a demon did not live inside him. If only people would stop trying to kill him and his friends. If only....

All his friends were undoubtedly getting ready for the dance tomorrow evening. Making last minute adjustments to their dresses and suits, finalizing dinner plans, confirming hotel reservations for a late night private celebration, or buying more booze for the inevitable after-parties -they all had the opportunity to experience the fun and enjoyment of a normal, high schoolers life. A normal life. The very thing life seemed all too determined to continue denying Naruto.

There was something warm and stinging in the corner of his eyes, blurring his vision. Naruto quickly wiped the tears from his face. Crying was a luxury only the week could afford; he had to appear strong, because only the strongest would have a chance to become the Hokage. He continued to repeat that thought in his head, over and over in the hopes that it would instill the strength and confidence necessary to dispel his sadness.

Naruto smiled to himself weakly and stared up at the sky, letting the rain's icy cold mist cascade over his face and wash away his tears. In school, it was said that shinobi were never supposed to show emotion. Their teachers instructed them how to disguise and suppress their true feelings whether it be pain, fear, or sadness. They never taught them how to cope with these emotions, though. Naruto could not imagine how some ninjas could live with themselves, going about their lives denying themselves any semblance of emotional solace. It had to eat away at them, festering from deep within, until all that was left was an emotionally shattered, hollow shell of a man.

"What the hell are you doing?" a voice called out to him over the falling rain.

Naruto blinked. He was suddenly aware of how ridiculous he must look, standing in the freezing cold with his face staring blankly into the sky. He turned and glanced down the road. Sakura was standing there underneath an umbrella.

"Oh, uh..." Naruto replied, scrambling for an answer. He could not tell her the truth. The last thing he wanted was for Sakura to think he was weak, or worst, that he was out there crying in the rain because of her. "I"m looking at the clouds." He finished lamely.

Sakura rolled her eyes and offered Naruto him the sanctuary of her umbrella. Naruto gratefully hustled underneath.

"My mom said you left this morning without an umbrella," Sakura told Naruto as they began walking back in the direction of her home. "I figured I would come look for you."

"I'm fine," Naruto lied. He was careful not to look at Sakura. He did not want to see how red his eyes were from the tears.

"You look fine," Sakura replied sarcastically. "What were you doing out here anyway?"

"I was just going to get some fresh air," he said. "And then it started raining."

"My mom wants you to come back home. She said the rain can't do any good for your bandages."

Naruto glanced down at his stomach. He had actually removed all the bandages and stitches that the doctors had put in already. His supernatural healing had mended the knife wound almost instantly, and a few days of resting had removed any evidence of the bombing. Still, Naruto had decided to entertain the pretense of still being injured. He suspected that Sakura's parents would be more inclined to allow him to freeload at their home if they thought he was legitimately wounded.

They had only walked for a few minutes when suddenly the storm picked up. The sleet began to fall faster and more violently, the wind began to howl, and chunks of hail began to fall from the sky. Most of them were little slivers of ice that stung mildly, but Naruto and Sakura noticed warily that some were considerably larger. One particularly sizable chunk crashed into the ground just a few feet away, splintering the pavement and spraying the two shinobi in a cloud of fragmented shards of ice.

Sakura and Naruto stared wordlessly in astonishment at where the hail had fallen. Had it came smashing down a second later, it could have easily crushed one of their skulls. Before nature decided to take another go at them, the two ninja quickly got off the sidewalk and ducked underneath the relative safety that a nearby cluster of pine trees offered. Tiny pebbles of frost still managed to penetrate the canopy to bounce harmlessly off Sakura's umbrella, but at least they wouldn't have to worry about being smashed by another falling meteorite.

"It's never a dull moment with you, is it?" remarked Sakura.

Naruto laughed and shook his head. The rain continued to pour and, judging from the periodic flashes of lightening that illuminated the gray skies, was not likely to let up soon. His legs weary from walking, he sat down on wet dirt and patted the ground next to him invitingly.

"I don't want to get my jeans dirty," Sakura said with a scowl. A few minutes later though, she reluctantly plopped down beside Naruto.

"So...you and Sasuke, huh?" Naruto asked, his voice a barely audible whisper over the rhythmic pattering of hail falling on their umbrella.

Sakura glanced sideways at her friend. This was the first time they had even attempted to discuss her relationship with Sasuke. She had told Naruto about her date the previous night, but neither had really felt like discussing it. Whether it had been the embarrassed, almost guilty blush that had blossomed on Sakura's face or the incredulous look of horrified disbelief on Naruto's, they both decided it would have been far too awkward to talk just then.

"Yeah. Me and Sasuke." she replied quietly.

"A childhood romance realized at last?"

"Yeah, something like that. What's it to you?" There was more than a little bite in Sakura's voice, more than a little accusation in the way she phrased that question.

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, but did not answer Sakura's question. After a few moments of tense silence, Sakura realized that Naruto had no intention to reply.

Sakura frowned. It was rare for Naruto to have nothing to say. Normally he would have had some smart ass remark to make, some sort of subtly veiled insult to throw at her for her obsessive love for Sasuke. He had been, after all, doing this for the last eight years through middle and high school, and it seemed almost inappropriate for Naruto to not crack some immature joke in response.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked, somewhat concerned. Naruto was not acting flirtatious, obnoxious, or perverted. Instead, he was behaving oddly distant and reclusive. Something was obviously wrong with him.

Naruto nodded. "Sure."

"You're not upset about...you know. Me and Sasuke?"

"Of course not," he said, shaking his head. "I made my choice and you made yours. I'm happy for you."

"Really?" Sakura asked. Naruto's response was surprisingly mature and not at all what Sakura would have expected from him. She knew that Naruto had grown up greatly this past year, but she was still taken aback by how stoically he was taking the news that she was now dating Sasuke. Sakura had been certain that Naruto would have exploded into some long winded protest when she first told him. Apparently she had underestimated Naruto.

"Sasuke is a jackass," Naruto said with a playful smile. "But it's not like you were waiting for my approval before making out with him in his car, right?"

Sakura flushed a brilliant shade of scarlet. "Y-you saw that?"

"You guys weren't being very discreet."

"Don't tell my parents about it, alright?" Sakura pleaded.

"Well...maybe...hey ouch!" Naruto exclaimed when Sakura turned around and punched him hard in the arm. "I was just kidding! Ouch!"

"You're such an asshole, Naruto," she snapped irritably. "My parents wouldn't let me go to the dance if they found out."

Naruto whimpered and rubbed the spot where she had hit him. It smarted at the touch, and he was pretty sure it would bruise. "That's no way to talk to the guy who's supposed to keep your secret. Maybe I should -hey ow!"

Sakura punched him in the arm again in the same spot, making Naruto cringe in pain.

"You really like him that much?" Naruto wondered. Why she would fall for a jerk like Sasuke was something he would never be able to understand, especially when Naruto knew for a fact that Sakura liked him too. He was funny and charming while Sasuke was mean and an asshole. How was it possible for a girl to be attracted to two guys so diametrically opposed to one another?

"Of course. He's smart, good-looking, popular..." Sakura said, listing the qualities that Naruto knew the girls in Konoha High found irresistible. But then she continued listing off Sasuke's characteristics that she found so attractive, surprising him with some of the things she added. "He's also nice, a gentleman, and sensitive too once you get to know him."

Naruto was speechless. He looked at Sakura like she was crazy. The only time Naruto had come close to seeing the emotional side of Sasuke that she described was when they had been imprisoned together in the same cell. Even then, Naruto had imagined Sasuke had broken into tears because he was scared,; it had been completely understandable given their circumstances at the time. Naruto never considered that Sasuke's breakdown signified any sort of genuine emotional depth, though. Naruto had always thought of Sasuke as a flat, one dimensional person with all flash and style but no substance. Hearing otherwise from Sakura was rather startling.

"I'm sorry, but did you say sensitive?" Naruto asked, unsure if he had heard her correctly.

"He can be quite romantic and charming when he wants to be," Sakura told him with a strange, blissful smile. Naruto rolled his eyes. Clearly she was busy reminiscing about her date the previous night. "He can be a little rough around the edges, but he's really nice once you get to know him."

He snorted. "Rough around the edges?" he protested scathingly. "Sasuke didn't even acknowledge you existed until a few months ago."

Sakura ignored him. "I think you guys would actually get along if you tried."

Naruto shook his head, chuckling at how naive Sakura was. "Sakura, you've spent one date with this guy. I've spent my entire life loathing that bastard. I think I know whether or not I could get along with him."

"So you're not going to the dance tomorrow?" Sakura asked. Apparently the last conversation had not been going in the direction Sakura had hoped, and so she was changing it. Naruto was all too happy to comply. He hated talking about Sasuke.

"I think it's for the best." Naruto said.

Sakura did not miss how dejected her friend sounded. Though his upbeat and cheerful demeanor did not wane, there was no mistaking the sadness and disappointment in his voice.

"You know," she said. "I never did tell you how sorry I am that things didn't work out with you and Hinata."

Naruto smiled at her appreciatively. It meant a lot to him hearing that from her. He had felt terrible about dumping her in the sewers, and had been terrified this entire time that their relationship would never recover. She had every right to hate him, not only for leaving her for another woman, but for almost getting her killed as well. Sakura's condolence was her way of reconciling their differences, her way of forgiving him for all his many mistakes and screw ups.

It gave Naruto hope that their friendship still had a future. Maybe, just maybe, despite everything that had happened, things would be alright between them.

"Thanks." He said. "We tried our best, though. Right?"

Sakura touched his hand lightly, covering hers with his. "Right."

Naruto closed his eyes. The rain had let up slightly, and the thunderous hail had all but dissipated. What was left in its wake was the soft staccato of lightly falling rain as it splashed against the overhead leaves and trickled down steadily to the ground. It was actually quite tranquil sounding, soothing and pleasing to the ears.

"Thanks for being my buddy, Sakura." Naruto said. He squeezed her hand and smiled when Sakura squeezed his back. Her hands were soft her touch pleasant and warm against his skin. It sent a surge of happiness coursing through him that made him forget about his sadness and misfortune. If only for a minute, it reminded him that as long as Sakura was his friend, he would never be truly alone. Their short lived romance might not have worked out, but as far as Naruto was concerned, he was still the luckiest guy in Konoha to have a friend as steadfast and caring.

Suddenly, his day did not seem so horrible anymore.

"Thanks Naruto," Sakura replied. "For being mine."

* * *

The Konoha Security Force officer swore bitterly under his breath as he ascended the final step leading up to the roof of Konoha High's east building roof. Like the majority of the village's civilian police, he was sorely out of shape from years of duty that demanded complacency and idleness more than anything else. The overweight police offer stopped at the top of the stairs and hunched over, hands on his knees, and struggled to catch his breath. At this time of day he normally would be sitting behind a desk with a box of dough nuts, not patrolling around the village's local shinobi academy in the pouring rain.

The academy was not even apart of their jurisdiction -it was ninja territory. The civilian police had no business being there, especially during one of the worst storms of the season. If the damn shinobi really wanted to make sure the school was secure before their big Christmas dance the following evening, it only made sense that their own people walk around in the freezing cold, looking for security breaches that did not exist.

But the Captain of police had insisted, and what the Captain wanted, the Captain always got. These were dangerous times, he had told them earlier that day when he had given them their orders. The country was on high alert, and tomorrow evening during the dance would be a prime time for the enemy to strike. They had to make sure the high school was completely secure, and the shinobi wanted the civilian law enforcement to help them.

The officer scowled angrily as he stood back up. The only reason why the village was in danger was because of the ninja to begin with. If the rumors were true, it was the Hokage who had pissed off Rock and Cloud Country. It was those stupid, irresponsible freaks of nature who had put him and every other civilian who lived in Konoha in jeopardy.

"Bastards," he growled. He began walking up and down the tiled rooftop, glancing back and forth for anything that might have been amiss. There was very little to see besides a water tower and a few air conditioning units. People seldom went up to the roof. He knew kids would sometime sneak up to smoke or make out or whatever it was that kids did these days, but other than that there really was no reason why anyone would have any interest being there.

He was not overly careful in his search. There was part off him that hoped he did accidentally miss something that might screw up the dance tomorrow and embarrass the shinobi. It would certainly serve them right for all the trouble they had caused him and all the other villagers.

The officer knew his anti-shinobi sentiments were echoed by many in the village. There had always been an uneasy truce between the shinobi and the civilians of Konoha. They understood the necessity of cooperation, but over the last several months, many civilians had begun to resent the ninja. The First Great Shinobi War had almost destroyed Konoha, and just when the village was beginning to flourish again, war was once again threatening to ruin everything that they had worked so hard to rebuild.

And it was all the ninja's fault.

"Unit thirteen this is HQ," an electronic voice squawked on the walkie-talkie that hung on his belt. "Is everything on the roof alright?"

"Roger that, HQ." the officer responded. He made one last pass around the rooftop, barely giving a cursory glance before heading back to the stairs. "Everything is clear."

Just as he was about to take the first step down the stairs, though, something out of the corner of his eye made him pause. Slowly, he turned around and walked back the way he had came. There was a steel hatch in the middle of the roof that lead back down into the school. It was a service entrance that maintenance personnel used to go in between the academy and the roof top. It was usually barred shut with a heavy security lock from the outside, and indeed, when the officer had passed by it only moments ago it had been fastened shut.

When he walked back to the door though, the security bar was lying on the floor, twisted and mangled as though someone had ripped it off with their bare hands. Whoever had done this had done it only seconds earlier and without making any sound.

"HQ, this is unit thirteen. There's something wrong on the roof. I think you should send -"

Before he could finish his sentence, something hard slammed into the middle of his back. He gasped loudly as agonizing pain exploded throughout his body. The officer tried to reach for his walkie-talkie to call for help, but his arms would not respond. He attempted to stagger to the stairs. Maybe if he fell down the stairs he could roll his way towards where his fellow officers were waiting. But his legs would not react either no matter how hard he tried to move them.

"Why couldn't you have just gone back downstairs?" a cold voice asked.

A young man, only a teenager really, with onyx eyes and spiky raven hair suddenly appeared in front of him.

The officer tried to open his mouth to beg for help. All he could manage, though, were a few pathetic grunts and whines. Even his voice no longer functioned.

"Unit thirteen, repeat what you just said," his walkie-talkie called. "Did you say there was problem on the east roof?"

The teen gave a slow, wicked smile that chilled the officer's blood. He grabbed the policeman's walkie talkie from his belt. "HQ, this is unit thirteen," he replied, his voice perfectly emulating the officer's. "Sorry, I made a mistake. Please advise, the east roof is secure. I repeat, the east roof is secure."

"Roger that, unit thirteen. Return to the station when you're finished."

The officer could only stare in horror and bewilderment at the teenage boy who flawlessly continued to impersonate him.

"HQ, negative on that. I think I'm going to hit the bars and then head home for the day." The boy said, winking slyly at the crippled officer.

Laughter came back on the walkie talkie. "Alright, you lazy bastard. We'll see you tomorrow evening then."

The raven-haired teen grinned menacingly. "See you then."

When the conversation was finished, he carelessly tossed the walkie talkie over the side of the roof. The sound of it shattering when it hit the ground could barely be heard over the rain, but it was crystal clear to the officer who was finally beginning to realize what would inevitably happen next.

"I'll take this if you don't mind," said the boy, reaching into the officer's holster and taking his handgun.

The doomed officer struggled in vain one last time to beg for mercy, to escape, to do anything that might save his life. But all his efforts were futile. His muscles remained immobile and useless. All he could do was moan in terror as the boy turned his attention back towards him.

"Bet you wish you had just gone back down stairs," the teen whispered cruelly. "Hindsight is a bitch, isn't it?"

And with that, Uchiha Sasuke grabbed the police officer's head and in one swift, vicious motion, snapped the man's neck.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Another week another chapter! Sorry that the latest chapters haven't been edited or proofread very well. I'm not really that great at it -something I have to keep working on. Hope you guys are still enjoying the story!

Next chapter: the dance begins!


	57. Chapter 57

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster

Copyright Notice: Same old same old.

**Chapter Fifty Seven: Dances and Decisions**

Shikamaru lounged comfortably in his living room's sofa, his head lazily reclined against a pile of cushions and pillows that had had carefully selected from around the house. Not too soft, not too hard, but not too fluffy either -each one had been methodically hand-picked to maximize his luxury as he sat in front of the television set, listlessly flipping through channels using the remote that sat beside him.

It was seldom that he felt the urge to watch television; the chaotic, bombardment of flashing images and raucous noises was irritating. He much rather would have preferred to lie out on the roof and look at the clouds as they passed through the sky. It was freezing cold outside and snowing heavily tonight, though, and besides, for some odd reason he doubted even something as normally calming as cloud gazing could placate the annoyance he was feeling.

An advertisement featuring a new brand of model of kunai flashed on screen, and Shikamaru quickly changed the channel. The next program depicted a gorgeous teenage couple as they frivolously made love underneath the star-lit, exchanging vows of eternal love while fornicating for its audience's amusement and approval.

He rolled his eyes and switched the channel again. How could people possibly watch this garbage? How could _he _be possibly watching this garbage?

Shikamaru glanced at the clock. It was almost eight o'clock in the evening. Right about now his friends were probably getting ready for the dance. He sighed. It was pathetic. No matter how many times Shikamaru had told himself over the last few days that he really didn't want to waste his time with something as inane as the Christmas Dance, there really was no denying how sad his predicament was. While the rest of Konoha High were busy prettying themselves up for the biggest event of the school year, he was at home watching reruns of terrible soap operas.

He had never really cared about what his peers thought of him, but he couldn't help but feel slightly self conscious that he wasn't going to the dance when even Choji had somehow managed to find a date for it.

At least Naruto wasn't going either. Maybe, just maybe he would be able to survive this little fiasco without being labeled the biggest loser when the yearbook came out in the summer.

"Shikamaru," his mother asked her son as she passed through the living room. "You don't have any plans for tonight?"

Shikamaru shook his head, not bothering to look up from the cologne ad blaring on screen. He could hear the disapproval and disappointment in his mother's voice. He knew how ecstatic she had been when he first told her that he was going to the dance with Ino; he also knew how entirely devastated she had been when he told her a few days later that he wasn't going to dance after all.

"Ino was just going to the dance with me because she lost a bet," Shikamaru had told her bitterly after his shopping trip with Ino had gone horribly wrong.

Her mother had given him a look that made him feel retarded. "She's gorgeous!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air incredulously. "Who cares?"

Shikamaru acknowledged that he was somewhat of a disappointment to his mother and father, both of whom had been incredibly popular in high school. They loved him and respected his intelligence, but Shikamaru knew that they privately yearned for their son to be less of a social recluse and be more like them.

He changed the channel again. He had made the right decision to reject Ino, hadn't he? The only reason why she had asked a loser like him out was because of a dumb bet with Sakura. Shikamaru snorted contemptuously. He hardly needed her charity or her pity, regardless of what his mother might think.

He might have passed up a date with one of the hottest girls in his year, but at the very least he still had his pride and dignity. And wasn't that really what was important?

"Not comfortable with the size of your 'package'?" a smiling man on the television screamed at Shikamaru. "Try Viagra today!"

Shikamaru groaned and sunk even deeper in his throne of cushions and pillows. He was beginning to think he had made a serious mistake.

Just then the door bell rang.

"Dad can you get the door?" Shikamaru's mother called from the kitchen.

"Shikamaru," shouted Shikamaru's father from the next room. "Get the door for your mother!"

"I'm busy!" Shikamaru shouted back.

"Answer the door now!" both his parents yelled his parents in unison.

_How troublesome, _Shikamaru thought disgruntledly, lifting his body out of the sofa and walking towards the door. He glanced out the window. The snow was still falling heavily, and judging from the thin layer of frost that obscured the window's glass pane, it was still freezing. Who in the world would be coming to visit him in this weather?

He turned the door knob and threw open the door. "Yeah, what do you wan -Ino!"

Yamanaka Ino was standing in his doorway, shivering as she tried to wrap her coat tighter around herself. Her elaborately styled hair was covered in snow, and she was ill dressed for the cold weather in a thin dress and high heels. She smiled at him, her teeth chattering. "H-hey Shikamaru."

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"O-oh, y-you know just passing through."

A moment of awkward silence past before Ino glared at him murderously. "Want to invite me in?"

Shikamaru blinked. "Oh. Yeah. Come on in."

"Thanks. I thought you would never ask." she snapped scathingly and brushed past him angrily.

The Nara clan shinobi looked blankly out at the falling snow for a few more seconds and sighed. For some reason, he feared that he might have just made yet another mistake. Closing the door, he turned back towards Ino.

Still shivering from the cold, Ino plopped down on the sofa, unsettling Shikamaru's carefully arranged pile of pillows. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm busy," he replied coolly.

Naturally, the man on television had to choose that moment to shout, "Order your Viagra today! Don't miss this special savings!"

Ino glanced at him with a sly smile. "So I see."

He scowled at her. It was so typical of Ino to come barging into his house and act like she owned the place. First she used him to win some stupid bet with Sakura, and now she was intruding into his own place of privacy and peace? Who did she think she was?

"What do you want?" Shikamaru demanded. "Have any other bad bets with your buddy, Sakura, that you need to pay off?"

Ino winced at the accusation, making Shikamaru feel a momentary pang of guilt. It passed quickly though. As Shikamaru glared at his classmate, he could still feel the dull throbbing in his cheek from where Ino had slapped him. It served as a nice reminder of what she had done to him.

Shikamaru braced himself for her reaction. He half expected her to reach across and slap him again, or, at the very least, begin screaming and shouting. Instead, she calmly folded her hands and took a deep breath.

"I wanted to apologize," Ino said slowly in an awkward voice that sounded strangely forced. It was apparent that she was having trouble saying those words; Shikamaru couldn't imagine she used them very often. "For what happened the other day."

"For using me or for slapping me?" he asked.

"For using you," she replied evenly. "You were acting like a jerk and deserved being slapped."

"I deserved being slapped?" Shikamaru exclaimed in outraged disbelief. "I find out that I was some sort of punishment for losing a bet, and I was the one who deserved to be slapped?"

Ino curled her lip. "Well, you did say some very unkind things."

He shrugged. In retrospect, Ino was probably correct. He had been excessively harsh, perhaps, and maybe he deserved what he got. But there was no way in hell he was going to concede that right now. "So, what?" He asked, eying her apparel shrewdly. "Going to the dance and didn't want your guilty conscience ruining your night? Is that it?"

"No you freaking retard," the blonde-haired shinobi snapped irritably. She looked away from Shikamaru, but he still saw the magnificent shade of magenta that was creeping across her face. In a hushed, embarrassed whisper that hardly suited her normally candid and fiery demeanor, she continued, "I-I came here to ask you to go with me again!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise. From the moment Ino had walked into his home, he had been mentally calculating all the different reasons why Ino would have come to visit him. Her asking him to be his date again had been one of the many possibilities, but admittedly, it was not one that Shikamaru had estimated were very probable. Her unexpected proposal caught him off guard, a rarity for a ninja who liked to think he always had all the angles figured out, and it was an unsettling feeling being ambushed unaware like this. It forced him in a rather unfamiliar predicament.

He had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Really?" he asked, trying to stall for some time. "You want me to be your date?"

Ino nodded. From the pocket of her jacket she produced a small, azure rose which she handed to Shikamaru. He gingerly took it, his hands caressing its petals gently. The flower was covered in freshly fallen snow, but far from dampening its beauty, the way it shimmered in the light only accentuated the rose's beauty.

"Wow," Shikamaru mouthed. The significance of Ino's gesture was not lost to him. He was familiar with how much these roses cost, and he knew that Ino could not have had an easy time procuring a flower so expensive and rare.

"So?" Ino asked eagerly. "How about it?"

Shikamaru was about to reply when suddenly his mother emerged from the kitchen. She took one look at Ino and then rushed over, smiling broadly as she wrapped a very startled Ino in a massive hug.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" his mother shrieked gleefully. She held Ino out at arm's length, beaming proudly as she appraised her son's date. "Look at you! You're so beautiful!"

"Erm...thanks, Mrs. Nara," Ino replied anxiously.

"No, thank you!" Shikamaru's mother insisted. She raced over to Shikamaru's side and wrapped an arm around him. "You see, his father and I have always been a little worried, you know, that he might be a little...."

"Socially awkward?" ventured Ino warily.

"Well, that and maybe a little queer...you see when he was small he liked to play with dolls with Choji and then..."

Shikamaru groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Mom, shut up!" he snarled.

Ino grinned at her friend wickedly. No doubt she was storing away that little treasure for later when she wasn't trying to win back favor with him.

"Well, Mrs. Nara, Shikamaru hasn't agreed to go with me to the dance quite yet," she told Shikamaru's mother with a sad, pitiful frown that she knew for a fact people found adorable and irresistible.

"Of course he wants to go with you to the dance!" thundered his mother. "Isn't that right, Shikamaru?"

It was amazing how quickly the situation had spiraled out of Shikamaru's control. He privately wondered if he actually had any control at all to begin with. It wouldn't be beneath Ino to have orchestrated this chaotic turn of events, but even if she was somehow responsible for the way things had unfolded, he supposed it was actually quite flattering that she would have gone through all the effort. If anything, it genuinely did mean that she wanted to go out with him.

But why?

And then Shikamaru suddenly realized something. It did not matter what Ino's motives were. Maybe she really liked him. Maybe she was just using him again. It didn't matter. A beautiful girl was asking him to the dance. What other factors were there to consider? He was prone to always over analyzing things -that was just the way he was. Normally it was his greatest asset, but tonight, all it would do was ruin a chance to have a wonderful evening with Ino.

"Sure," Shikamaru said, smiling for the first time that night.

He was not the kind of shinobi who liked to take risks. He would consider the angles, do the math, and choose the option that would yield the best results. Going out with Ino was not that option. There was a chance that this was all nothing more than an elaborate set up for some cruel practical joke of Ino's, but then again, there was also the chance that she really was trying to make up for the past. It was a gamble he felt was well worth making.

He took the azure rose and carefully tucked it in Ino's long, flowing blond hair. He stepped back to admire his handiwork. His mother was right. She really did look gorgeous.

"I'd love to go with you."

* * *

Across town, another set of shinobi were also spending their evening making last minute preparations for the big dance. Or at least one of them was trying to.

Sakura frowned at her reflection in her bedroom mirror and anxiously adjusted the top of her dress. She fixed the transparent straps across her shoulders and then put her arms back down, carefully studying her appearance for any flaw in the immaculate pink evening gown that her mother had finished making only hours earlier. It looked perfect; her mother had obeyed her instructions to the letter. It was made of a thin, light material and imitated the cut of the expensive designer dresses that Sakura could only wistfully ogle at through store windows. Stylish and sexy, conservative yet daring, the dress was indeed everything that Sakura had asked for. She gave a little twirl in the mirror and practiced her curtsy.

The dress appeared flawless, but for a night as big as the Christmas Dance, it could not just look perfect. It had to _be_ perfect.

"Well," Sakura asked Naruto, who was sitting on her bed. "What do you think?"

Naruto yawned. "You've been standing in front of that mirror for an hour now. I'm bored and hungry. Let's go eat."

He yelped and dove off the bed just in time to dodge a slipper that Sakura chucked at him.

"I told you before," she told him with an annoyed glare. "We'll go grab something to eat after I'm done."

"But you've been doing this forever," he whined, sounding every bit like a petulant five year old.

"And I still need to do my hair too," she reminded. Naruto moaned in despair and laid back on her bed, massaging his growling stomach.

"You look just fine," Naruto said. "I don't see why girls spend hours getting ready anyhow. Guys certainly don't."

Sakura sighed and began applying her make up. She had been hoping Ino or one of the other girls would have been available to help her pretty herself up before the dance, but they all had issues of their own to deal with. Tenten's tailor had delivered her dress with one side slit longer than the other, Hinata was still trying to convince her father to let her leave the estate, and Ino had disappeared without telling anyone where she was going. That left Naruto to assist her in preparing for the dance, but far from being any sort of help, he was proving to be nuisance.

"Most guys," Sakura said as she began dabbing foundation on her face. "Unfortunately also end up looking like you."

"Touche," Naruto replied with a chuckle. "So what? Another five minutes before we can eat? Ten?"

Sakura resisted the urge to throw her other slipper at Naruto. She was trying to apply her eyeliner and she really didn't need any distractions right now. "You can go buy something you know. You don't have to wait for me to microwave dinner."

Naruto frowned and sat on the edge of her bed, his feet kicking back and forth idly. "I don't have any money."

"That's a surprise." she remarked dryly. Naruto was annoying, childish, immature, and poor. How on Earth did she ever find him attractive again?

"You could let me try to work the microwave on my own," he ventured hopefully. "I promise I'll be more careful this time."

Sakura shook her head quickly. The last time Sakura had let Naruto use the microwave unsupervised, he had stuck a metal bowl full of flammable oil in it and then set the heat on high. There were still scorch marks on the wall from where the microwave had exploded. What exactly Naruto had been trying to cook she never bothered to ask; she was afraid the sheer idiocy of his answer might force her to punch him in the head for being such a retard.

"Absolutely not."

"Sheesh. Make one mistake and..."

"You almost burned down my house, Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "You're lucky my parents believed that the fire was an accident because our microwave was so old."

"You guys ended up getting a new one as a result, though," he reminded her with a shrewd smile. "You should be thanking me. As in, thanking me by heating up dinner."

"I'll do it when I'm finished!"

Naruto finally subsided into silence, content enough to roll around on Sakura's bed while making incoherent noises. It gave Sakura a chance to finish prettying herself up in peace, something which she was incredibly grateful for once she began styling her hair. As a child, she had always had trouble finding a style that worked effectively to cover her abnormally large forehead. It was a problem that continued to haunt her, and tonight was no exception. In fact, it was proving to be far more challenging than she remembered.

After several minutes of combing her hair and experimenting with a dozen different styles, she finally found one that was halfway decent. With a smile, she turned away from the mirror.

"What do you think, Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto tilted is head to the side. "Your dress is kind of revealing, isn't it?"

Sakura blushed. "N-no," she protested. In truth, she knew the dress was perhaps a little more risqué than she was normally comfortable with. She wanted to look impressive tonight, though, and she would never accomplish that dressed like a nun in a monastery.

He got off the bed and circled around her, stroking his chin thoughtfully as if carefully studying something. Sakura grinned, put her hands on her lips, and struck a pose like a fashion model.

"So? Do you think Sasuke will like it?" Sakura asked hopefully.

Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and shook his head. "No."

"Really? Why?" she demanded. Panic was sweeping over her, and she could feel a tinge of hysteria creeping into her voice. "Is there something wrong with my dress? With my makeup? What?"

He smiled mischievously. "A giant queer like Sasuke won't appreciate it, but every other guy there will think you're gorgeous."

Sakura shoved him in the chest. "Jerk," she snarled, but there was an embarrassed smile on her face. She walked back and forth across the room, practicing her steps to ensure she wouldn't accidentally trip over it when she was dancing. She came to a stop in front of Naruto. "Do you really think I look beautiful?"

Naruto nodded. "Sasuke is one lucky bastard to have you. He better realize that."

Just then, Sakura's alarm clock went off and the music player she had docked in it randomly began playing a song. It was an older track, one that Sakura had long since forgotten that was on it. Slow but melodious, passionate and yet catchy, the beautiful sound of a woman's voice and the sweeping serenade of violins filled the room. The song was enchanting, mesmerizing and hypnotic almost, and before Sakura knew what was going on, she felt Naruto's hands gently touching hers.

She was surprised for a second, but she did not flinch away from his touch. Instead, she took his hand and smiled when Naruto wrapped an arm around her waist. They began slowly swaying back and forth, moving in rhythm to the music.

"Hey," Sakura whispered. "You're not a bad dancer."

Naruto smiled. Her mouth was only inches away from his ear, and the warmth of her breath sent a pleasant chill up his spine. He stepped back, spun Sakura around, and then pulled her back to him as the dance continued. "Thanks. Neither are you."

"You sure you're going to be alright with not going to the dance?" she wondered. "You could still go."

He shook his head.

"You really like Hinata that much?"

"Yeah."

The song ended, but still the two shinobi continued their dance. Sakura leaned her head against Naruto's chest and closed her eyes. This, she realized as they bobbed and swayed in time to a music only they could hear, was the reason why she could fall in love with him. He might be still act like an immature child, but when he wanted to, Uzumaki Naruto certainly had his redeeming moments.

For a brief moment, Sakura felt an overwhelming desire to ask Naruto to go to the dance with her. But she forced herself to resist it. Sasuke was her date, and Naruto's heart belonged to another girl.

It took all of her will power to finally break away from Naruto, to reluctantly push him away from her. There was part of her that wanted nothing more than to dance the evening away in her friend's arms, and she knew that if they continued dancing for much longer, that was exactly what might happen. And for both their sake's, that was something Sakura could not allow.

"I need to go," Sakura said quickly. She didn't look at Naruto in the eye, scared that he would see how flushed her face was. That he would see how badly she did not want to leave him. "I need to go meet with Sasuke."

"Call me if he treats you badly," Naruto told her, his voice far more severe than she had ever heard it before.

"Sure," she agreed without thinking. She grabbed her purse and her phone from her beside table and tried to rush past Naruto. He grabbed her hand before she could slip by.

"Promise me." He said. "If anything goes wrong, promise me you'll call me right away."

"Fine. I promise," she said.

Naruto loosened his grip, and Sakura quickly fled from the room. He stood there for a long while, looking silently at the doorway where she had disappeared through. Only after he heard the house door slam shut did he make his way towards Sakura's bed and sit down.

"Did I make the right choice?" He wondered to himself out loud.

The sound of his stomach growling violently was his only answer.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry that took a little longer than expected to get online. Been pretty busy with college term starting up once again, but I still have a few more chapters completed so hopefully I'll be able to get another one up in a week or two! Hopefully you guys are enjoying the story!


	58. Chapter 58

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster  
Copyright Notice: Don't own Naruto.

**Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Winter Dance Part One**

The annual Winter Dance had been held since the formation of Konoha High hundreds of years earlier. Though originally an opportunity for war weary shinobi to gather together for a night of drunken revelry and delicious food, over the years it had evolved into a tradition of opulent banquet halls, elaborate dresses and tuxedos, and the finest DJ's and musicians in all of Konoha. Everyone from the student's parents to the students themselves expected the Winter Dance to be a grand affair, the highlight of a year soon to pass into the next, and it was the Hokage's obligation to ensure that it did not disappoint in the slightest.

Only an hour into the night, the hundreds of students who had braved the cold to attend the Winter Dance all unanimously agreed that their Hokage had more than exceeded even their wildest expectations. Since the school had closed for the holiday break, it had transformed from being a drab center of academia to resembling an upscale nightclub. The halls were covered in flashing neon lights directing students to the main dance hall or refreshment tables, and the hottest songs in Konoha were blaring loudly over the school's Public Announcement speakers.

But the most astonishing part of Konoha High's make over was the gymnasium. The humongous arena was normally used for indoor evaluations, duels and sparring, and dangerous battlefield exercises; it had affectionately been nicknamed the "Danger Room" by many of Konoha High's students. Tonight, though, the training equipment that littered the matted floors had been stowed away to leave an expansive floor area for the students to mingle and, of course, dance.

A dozen different strobe lights flashed overhead, briefly illuminating the dance hall with a different color every other second, and the hall reverberated in tandem with the assortment of music that blasted through the dozens of hidden, strategically placed speakers.

Hyuga Hinata carefully weaved her way in and out of the dozens of teenagers who had flocked to the dance floor. It was difficult and on more than one occasion she had to apologize when she accidentally stepped on someone's foot or bumped into them. She wasn't even aware that this many kids went to Konoha High.

Still, despite how crowded the dance floor had become or how much of a headache the obnoxiously loud music gave her, she could not help but smile be unconsciously drawn into the atmosphere. The air was so full of excitement, so full of happiness; it had an almost tangible, electric presence that sent tingles up her spine.

After what seemed to be an hour, she finally managed to push her way off the dance floor and into an interconnecting hallway where a number of refreshment tables had been set up.

"Drink?" someone asked her.

It was Kiba. He was leaning against the refreshment table with two drinks in his hands. Hinata smiled gratefully and took one from him.

"You didn't mix anything in this did you?" Hinata demanded facetiously.

"Just a roofie so I can take advantage of you later," replied Kiba, straight faced.

She laughed and took a drink from it anyway. Kiba smirked when she made a disgusted face and spat the drink back into the glass.

"What the heck is this?" Hinata sputtered, wincing. "It tastes like someone wrung out a wet sock into the punch bowl."

"Close. I think someone spiked the drinks with something." Kiba took a sip from his glass and frowned. "Tastes like moon shine."

"Tastes like garbage," she replied as she emptied the contents of her glass into a nearby plant.

"It's not that bad," argued Kiba with a shrug. He finished his glass and reached for another. "Beats having a dry party anyway."

As Kiba chugged down his drink, Hinata noticed just how haggard he looked. His dress shirt was covered in reddish orange splotches in places, his coat was draped casually over his shoulder, and his tie hung loosely from his neck. Even his messy hair somehow looked even more untamed and scruffy than usual.

"Hey, where's Asuka?" Hinata asked, looking for the fiery-haired archer. "I thought she was going to the dance with you."

Kiba rolled his eyes and shook his head. "She got food poisoning."

"What? Really?" Hinata exclaimed. Then something dawned on her. She winced and put a consoling hand on her friend's shoulder. "Oh, she blew you off? I'm so sorry, Kiba."

But then Kiba said something that surprised her.

"Huh? Oh, no. I thought she was blowing me off too at first so I went to her house to confront her." Kiba explained. "She answers the door in her pajamas looking like death and apologizes that she can't go with me."

He drained his glass and reached for another. "And then she throws up all over me. Turns out she really was sick after all."

Despite her friend's obvious misfortune, Hinata couldn't help but to giggle at how ridiculous of a story that was. "Wow. She _really _must not have wanted to go out with you."

Kiba grinned, but it was a short lived gesture that soon subsided into a weary sigh. "So here I am without a date." He cast Hinata a sympathetic glance and added, "Sorry about you and Naruto by the way. I know how much that meant to you."

Hinata tried to smile and wave off his condolences, but found that she couldn't. He was hardly the first person who had offered her their sympathy for her and Naruto's short lived but tragic relationship, and she had hoped she had gotten used to being reminded about it by now. However, each time anyone mentioned Naruto's name, a fresh pang of sadness filled Hinata and tears threatened to fill her pearl-colored eyes. Being forcefully separated from someone she loved was hard enough; being reminded about it constantly was almost unbearable.

"Well," Kiba said hastily, noticing that his friend looked like she was about ready to start crying. "I don't have a date either now."

It was so much more than that, Hinata wanted to tell him. But she appreciated his effort to cheer her up, and if nothing else, it made her momentarily forget about her own troubles.

The music continued to play in the background and a number of their school mates passed them on the way to the dance hall. Some of them were their classmates, but most of them were from underclassmen that they did not know. Amongst their classmates, though, was Tenten. Dressed in a gorgeous, satin and silk oriental dress, she approached Kiba and Hinata with an incredibly disgruntled look marring her otherwise pretty features.

"Hey Tenten," Hinata said with a friendly wave. "Where's Neji?"

Tenten glowered furiously at her. "He's not here that's where!" she snapped. "That jerk said he had something to take care of and probably won't show up until later!"

"Did he say what it was?" Kiba inquired, careful not to anger the expert marksmen anymore than she already clearly was.

"No, of course not!" Tenten exploded. "He's always keeping secrets from me and he wonders why I tell him I don't trust him!"

She grabbed one of the drinks from the table and downed it one gulp. Hinata noticed she barely even flinched as she emptied her glass. Tenten rounded on Hinata, poking a finger at her. "Well I don't need, Neji!" she said. "I'm going to go inside and have a great time by myself! And you, Hinata, should probably do the same before all the available guys are gone!"

And with that, Tenten stormed off and was quickly lost in the crowd of revelers in the dance hall. Kiba and Hinata exchanged nervous glances. Both considered themselves rather fortunate that they had escaped that encounter without something burled hurled at them.

"Hey, look," Kiba suddenly said meekly. "I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier. You know. About me taking you for granted."

Hinata blinked, somewhat taken aback by his apology. With everything that had transpired over the last several days, being mad at Kiba for something stupid that he had said or done had been the least of her priorities. In all truth, she had practically forgotten about it. "Oh, yeah. Not a huge deal."

"Then..." Kiba cleared his throat nervously. He extended an inviting hand towards Hinata, his eyes pleading her to take it. "If everything is cool between us, do you think I could ask you for a dance?"

For a moment, she was about ready to tell him no. That she wasn't ready for that just yet, not when her heart was still broken. But then she thought of Naruto and realized that the reason why he hadn't attended the dance was because of her. He would have wanted her to have fun, to enjoy the Winter Dance to its fullest. She could almost see him frowning in disapproval at her as she sat around moping instead of having of a good time.

Slowly, Hinata reached out and accepted his hand. "One dance?" she asked.

"Well, maybe more than just one dance," Kiba said with a pleased grin.

She just smiled and allowed Kiba to lead her to the dance floor.

* * *

Author's Note:

Short update. Swamped with work. Updates will take a little longer so please be patient. I'll try and update once every few weeks still. It was great to have so much time to work on A Ninja's Guide during winter break, but I'm back to school and work now so it has to sit on the back burner for a little while. As always, thanks for reading guys! Hope you're enjoying it!


	59. Chapter 59

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster  
Copyright: Same as always

**Chapter Fifty-Nine: Beginning of the End  
**

Throughout his high school career, Aburame Shino had never been renowned for his social prowess. Quite the opposite in fact. Though never shunned, teased or harassed like some of the other unfortunate students in Konoha High, Shino resided in the shadows, far outside any of the many social circles that comprised the school body. He had always been an outcast, one of the eccentric weirdos that even the unpopular geeks and dorks were content trying to ignore.

And that had always been just fine with Shino. He sat in the back of the classroom, seldom spoke during lessons, and ate at his own table during lunch. He never bothered any of his classmates, and more importantly, none of them ever messed with him.

Because of this, no one was really surprised to see Shino tucked away in the furthest corner of the gymnasium. He sat far away from everyone else, his arms crossed stoically across his chest as he silently observed his schoolmates from behind a pair of opaque sunglasses.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves in some form or another. Ino was swaying her hips suggestively, grinding her body Shikamaru who humorously appeared on the verge between embarrassment and complete bliss. Tenten looked half-drunk and was trying seduce her male classmates, either oblivious or indifferent to the murderous glares she was receiving from their dates. Rock Lee, who also looked totally smashed, was dazzling spectators with his impressive athleticism by break dancing.

Even the normally shy Hinata had emerged from her reclusive shell to have some fun. She was dancing with Kiba, a furious blush on her face as her wolfish date swept her across the dance floor.

It was strange. Despite the obvious fun that his classmates were enjoying, Shino did not feel the inclination to participate in the revelry. Maybe it was because he had an aversion to fun because he truly was as strange as his classmates made him out to be. Or maybe it was because adhering to his reputation for being weird was more important to him than being normal and enjoying himself.

But really, as much as Shino hated to admit it, it was because he knew that he would not feel comfortable amongst the rest of his class.

Seventeen years of sitting idly on the margins of school society would do that. It had formed a tangible disconnection greater that even a night as celebratory as this could hope to mend.

Not that he could really blame his classmates, Shino reflected as held up his hand and gazed at it. A series of minuscule black dots scurried across his flesh: bugs. Like the rest of the Aburame clan, Shino's exceptional gift was the sacred union between himself and insects. They lived inside him, burrowing dens beneath his flesh and in his bones, waiting to obey his every command. He was a walking arsenal of venomous, fierce, swarming arachnids, beetles, and more.

While this gift may have made him a formidable ninja, it had not done a lot to impress girl's or curry the friendship of his male classmates either. For some odd reason people were terrified by creepy, ugly bugs. But not Shino. Shino loved each and every one of them.

He took an idle sip from his drink and once again considered leaving. The night was still early, but Shino could not think of a reason to stay and hang out by himself for any longer. He did not belong here any more than the hives of insects that skittered idly across his skin.

Shino placed his glass down on a nearby table, straightened his jacket, and prepared to leave.

That was when he saw it. It was barely noticeable, and he doubted he would have even noticed it had he been as enraptured with the night's festivities as his classmates were. The air shaft that ran across the ceiling of the gymnasium was shaking. Every few seconds, a subtle tremble would cause the elongated metal passage that ran across the roof to shake. Someone was in the roof.

* * *

Inside the dance hall, the night's festivities were not developing the way Sakura had envisioned. Far from it, in fact, and it was a source of no small amount of irritation for the pink-haired shinobi as she stood against gymnasium walls, arms crossed across her chest, glaring enviously out onto the main floor where her classmates were dancing.

Ever since she was little, Sakura had wondered what her final Winter Dance would be like; somehow she had always envisioned it being something magical and wonderful, something that she would remember for as long as she lived. The evening had started off that way, at least. Sasuke had picked her up in a limousine and had played the part of the suave, charming gentleman that Sakura found irresistible. They had dined at an opulent restaurant reserved only for the wealthiest in Konoha, kissed and cuddled in the backseat as Sasuke's driver chauffeured them to the school, and then shared a bottle of expensive champagne out of crystal glasses before heading in. The prelude to the dance had been perfect. Sakura doubted that even her wildest daydreams could compare with the extravagance and love that Sasuke had showered her with.

But the moment they stepped through the front doors of Konoha High, things had only gone steadily downhill from there.

Sakura cast a dark look at Sasuke who was reclined against the wall next to her. His eyes were closed, and if not for the fact that he would mutter something unintelligible every so often, she would have thought him asleep. Ever since they had arrived over an hour ago, Sasuke had stood there as far removed from the dance floor as possible, sullen, withdrawn, and moody. He had barely even attempted to make conversation with Sakura let alone ask her to dance.

"Sasuke, are you feeling alright?" Sakura asked, concerned.

Sasuke did not even attempt a response. Instead, he snarled incoherently, angrily.

She exhaled deeply, hoping to expel some of her frustration out of her system before it boiled to a point where she would not be able to control herself. Part of her was genuinely concerned about Sasuke. As weird as he had been acting over the last few days, this level of eccentricity was definitely new and rather unsettling. Another part of her, though, could not shake the selfish sentiment that Sasuke's strange behavior was ruining what should have been her special night with him. It was one thing if Sasuke felt ill and needed to rest for a moment, but he was merely standing there, lost in his own private world where Sakura no longer held any significance.

It was most aggravating.

"Hey, having fun there?" teased Ino as she passed by, wrapped securely in Shikamaru's arms. She gave a sly, almost triumphant, wink in her direction.

Sakura glared at her friend's back and hoped that she would trip. Ino didn't though. She was a very capable dancer, and Sakura was surprised to see that Shikamaru was holding his own as well. Far from feeling glad that Ino had reconciled her differences with Shikamaru, seeing the two perform so well as a happy couple only made her all the more aware of her own partner's glaring inadequacies.

She knew better than to let Ino's playful jibes get the better of her, but it was hard to suppress the annoyance that had her digging her beautifully manicured nails into her skin. She glanced at Sasuke who still resembled a comatose infirmary patient than her date, then looked towards where a group of guys stood congregated on the other side of the dance hall. The idea of walking over there and asking one of them to dance was tempting. Maybe it would make Sasuke jealous enough to stir him out of whatever debilitating funk that was plaguing him. It was unlikely, though. Sakura doubted he would even notice she was missing.

Sakura decided to give Sasuke one last chance. She took a deep breath then turned and confronted him. "So, are you ever planning on asking me to dance tonight?"

For a moment, Sasuke said absolutely nothing, and Sakura didn't think he was planning to. She was just about ready to give up and storm across the hall to find a new date, when suddenly the raven-haired Uchiha reached out and touched her hand.

The DJ changed the song from the upbeat, hip-hop track that had been playing to a slow, sweeping orchestral score that resonated throughout the gymnasium.

"Of course," Sasuke said with a playful grin that made Sakura's heart skip a beat. "I was just waiting for the right song."

Before Sakura could get in a word edge-wise, Sasuke grabbed her hand and dragged her out onto the dance floor. Startled by Sasuke's abrupt shift in attitude -no, personality -Sakura clumsily stumbled after him. She almost bumped into a couple that were waltzing nearby, earning a murderous glare from both of them, and it took several more embarrassing and awkward moments before she was able to follow Sasuke's lead.

"Calm down, Sakura," Sasuke laughed. "You have to flow with the music. Not fight against it."

"I wasn't fighting anything," Sakura protested angrily. "I was caught off guard because you were acting so weird."

"Was I?" he responded, cocking his head to the side quizzically. He spun her around, caught her gracefully in his arms and leaned her back until the tips of her pink hair brushed lightly against the floor. A moment later, once they were both in each another's arms again, he shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Sorry, I didn't notice."

Sakura frowned. "You didn't notice? You were standing against the wall for almost an hour muttering something."

"Really?" Sasuke asked.

There was a genuine curiosity in his voice, but there was also something else that perplexed Sakura. He was talking to her in a matter that made it sound like he was merely humoring her interrogative questions, as if he was playing along with some sort of ridiculous game of hers. It was almost as if he really had no clue what she was talking about.

"I don't know!" she snapped, feeling both angry and confused now. "But you were acting really, really, weird just a minute ago."

Sasuke favored her with a charming smile that almost made Sakura miss a step. "Well, then, allow me to apologize..."

With that, he swept her into his arms and planted a long, passionate kiss on her lips. The familiar warmth of pleasure rushed through Sakura once again, and she felt as though her legs would give way. Fortunately, Sasuke's strong arms were wrapped tightly around her, allowing her to melt into his chest as their kiss continued.

It was only when Sakura noticed that several of her classmates were making wolf whistles and cat calls at them did she reluctantly push Sasuke away. She quickly adjusted her dress from where it had risen up a tad too high on her thighs, and tried to disguise how flushed her face had become and how short of breath she was.

"Go get a room you two!" yelled Kiba as him and Hinata passed them.

Sakura blinked in surprise as she watched Kiba and Hinata disappear amidst all the other couples. "W-was that Kiba and Hinata?" she asked Sasuke.

"Ignore them," Sasuke whispered. "They're just jealous."

"N-no, that's not what I meant."

She thought about Naruto who was still sitting in her room, all alone and probably hungry since she had forgotten to microwave dinner before fleeing out the door. She hoped he didn't find out that Hinata was dancing with other guys. He would pretend like he didn't care. He would pretend like he was ecstatic that Hinata was having fun, but privately, Sakura knew he would be devastated by the news.

They continued dancing for several more songs, some fast and some slow. Sasuke was an excellent dancer, and Sakura found herself struggling to keep up with him at times. Every time she would falter, fall behind, or accidentally step on Sasuke's foot, he would grin and slow down until she could catch up. At first she would seethe in silent humiliation every time she screwed, but as one song became another and the night wore on, Sakura would intentionally mess up just so she could see Sasuke smile. It was a beautiful smile that conveyed so much warmth and romantic that it made Sakura's heart melt. Maybe it was just her being hypnotized by his charm, or perhaps it was just puppy love, but when she was in the arms of Sasuke, her childhood crush, she felt happier than ever before.

Her head came to a rest against his chest once again, and, for an instant, she experienced an intense feeling of deja vu. Only hours earlier she had been doing the same exact thing with Naruto in her bedroom. It was odd. It felt so right being with Naruto, but at the same time, so did it with Sasuke. In the end, though, it had been Sasuke who had decided to stick with her instead of chasing after someone else. And, Sakura supposed, that was what really mattered.

"It's almost midnight," Sasuke whispered in her ear as they slowly danced around the room, their hands tightly intertwined.

"What happens at midnight?" Sakura wondered. The Winter Dance was scheduled to last another hour at least.

"Oh, you'll see."

The current song ended, and the DJ went to take a break.

"But first," Sasuke said. "Do you want to step outside for a second? It's kind of getting hot in here."

Sakura nodded. Even though it was still chilly outside, they had generated quite a sweat from dancing over the last several hours. Her forehead was damp with sweat, and her dress was clinging unpleasantly in a few unmentionable places. "Sure, that sounds like a great idea. Want to go to the balcony?"

Attached to the second floor of the gymnasium were a series of large balconies that extended from the building. Most of the time they were used or additional lessons, but they were also a popular place for students to hang out. Tonight, however, despite the snow and cold, they would be coveted territory for couples looking for a chance to get away from the crowd and spend some private time with one another.

For instance, Sakura had spotted Ino leading Shikamaru upstairs a few minutes ago. No doubt they wanted to dance in private, or perhaps, Ino was feeling particularly bold. It was impossible to tell with that girl sometimes.

"Nah. They'll be too crowded." Sasuke said.

"Where do you want to go then?"

Sasuke thought for a moment. "Let's just head out the front door."

"Should we grab out coats?"

He shook his head. "It's not too cold outside right now. Besides, we'll just be a second."

Sakura bit her lip, unsure, but nodded anyway and followed Sasuke out of the gymnasium and into the corridor leading towards Konoha High's entrance. She didn't exactly relish being out in the cold again, but Sasuke seemed determined to get outside quickly and Sakura didn't want to argue with him. It would only be for a few seconds like Sasuke said, right? What could possibly happen?

* * *

Kisame watched Itachi with something akin to fascination in his distinctly reptilian-shaped eyes. The shark-like renegade shinobi from the Hidden Rain Village stood underneath a nearby tree while Itachi sat on a boulder beside him, his eyes closed in concentration. Kisame knew Itachi was using a mind-control technique of some sorts, but beyond that he knew very little about the powers that his partner wielded. All the same, however, despite his past and abilities behind shrouded in mysteries, Itachi was one of the few members of Akatsuki Kisame respected and perhaps slightly feared. The powers of the Sharingan were enough to make even the most hardened S-ranked criminals tremble in fear. Power like that Kisame did not need to fully comprehend in order to respect it.

After an hour of silence, Itachi finally opened his eyes. He was breathing harder than normal, Kisame noticed, and there was sweat dripping from his brow despite the freezing wind that chilled the air.

"What was that about?" Kisame asked. "Something go wrong?"

Itachi shook his head. "A slight complication."

"Is it something to be concerned about?" the gilled Akatsuki swordsman growled nervously. If there was one member of Akatsuki that Kisame feared more than Itachi it was their leader's wrath should they fail in their mission.

Fortunately, the Uchiha dismissed the notion with a caustic scoff. "Hardly."

"Then what happened?" Kisame urged. "You're never like this after connecting with your host."

Though Kisame only had an elementary understanding of the inner workings of Itachi's Sharingan, he knew Itachi's mind-control had its limits. Though Itachi could be safely removed from his victim and still actively manipulate their actions, he was forced to periodically pause and renew his hold on them. Like a piece of rope that needed to be routinely repaired in order to maintain its strength and integrity, the connection between Itachi and his host was tentative and needed to be consistently supervised lest it be undone.

But in all the times Kisame had silently observed Itachi at work, never once had he seen his partner emerge so physically drained and exhausted. Also, it normally only took Itachi a minute to commune with his victim; this time it had taken almost a half of an hour.

"Is your host struggling?" persisted Kisame.

"It's nothing," Itachi said. The way his body wearily slouched and the dead gaze in his eyes suggested otherwise, though. "I've done my part. What about yours?"

From there perch miles away from the gates of Konoha, the two shinobi could still see the bright lights emanating from Konoha High. It was almost midnight now, and if their information was correct, the party had reached its pinnacle. Students, teachers, maybe even a few of Konoha's celebrity guests would be there. Hundreds if not thousands would be in attendance, all dancing, singing, eating and drinking; taking the rare opportunity to forget their worries and embrace a night of unadulterated entertainment and fun.

"All squads are on stand by," the swordsman said. He reached into his robes and produced a small remote which he tossed to Itachi. "Orochimaru told us to use this when we're ready to begin. It'll signal the troops to begin their assault."

Itachi looked down at the remote he was holding. It was a small box with a button in the center of it. It almost seemed inappropriate that the use of something so simple and inconspicuous would inevitably have such devastating repercussions. His finger traced over the button, his flesh tingling as he gently caressed it.

He looked up and stared out at Konoha, at the village where he was born, raised, and ultimately exiled from. He thought of the smiling faces of the villagers who waved and greeted him as he ran to school through the city's busy streets. He thought of all the Konoha shinobi who had been his mentors and allies during his youth. He thought of Konoha High and its instructors, he thought of his friends who still lived in the village unaware of his existence, and he thought about how all of that would slowly burn into nothingness with a press of a button.

Itachi had no misconceptions about what his actions would yield. There were no illusions, no misunderstandings or miscommunication. With a single gesture, the mere thumbing of a small mechanical switch, hundreds would die tonight. Thousands within a week. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of people would be dead by this time next year, and Itachi realized he would be solely responsible for it all.

But it was necessary.

"And so here we," Itachi whispered, a bare murmur in the still night air. He exhaled deeply and then pressed the button. "Go."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Lots of school work and lots of normal work has consumed most of my time lately, but hopefully I'll be able to find some time to write the next chapter this week. Thanks for your patience guys! Oh, and the latest Naruto manga chapters? Awesome!


	60. Chapter 60

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JA_Japster  
Copyright Notice: Don't own Naruto.

**Chapter Sixty: Phase One**

Hinata had never truly understood why she had been such good friends with Kiba all these years. After all, aside from the fact that they attended the same school, they really had nothing in common.

She was an heiress to a powerful, prestigious family. Kiba's clan, though reputable for their prowess as veterinarians and canine breeders, were hardly comparable. Hinata had been groomed to be a respectable member of society's elite class. Kiba was about as rude and uncouth as they came. Hinata liked the arts, ballet, and classical music. Kiba listened to death metal and spent his afternoons with his dog, Akamaru, terrorizing village children.

In almost every sense of the word, Hinata and Kiba were exact opposites. But perhaps that was what initially attracted Hinata to him. The fact that he was so distinctly different than the boring, sterile life of riches and luxury that she was so accustomed to fascinated her. Kiba might be an obnoxious loud mouth, but unlike the wealthy and powerful, there was a simple honesty to him that Hinata enjoyed. When she hung out with Kiba, there were no pretenses. No lies. No need to adhere to the ridiculous laws of etiquette that the societal elite imposed on her. No need to pretend to be anything that she didn't want to be.

Maybe it was this very reason, this inherent desire for the life of normalcy she could observe, that Hinata found Naruto so attractive. He was kind, honest, compassionate, and she could always count on him to surprise her. She spent most of her day tucked behind the high walls of her estate or attending some inanely boring cocktail party. Surprises in her day were few , far between, and always welcomed.

Kiba, it seemed, was not without a few surprises of his own. As he guided her deftly across the dance floor, Hinata could not help but be impressed. For a guy who regularly took pride in his lack of sophistication and class, Kiba was a surprisingly capable dancer. This revelation made Hinata smile, though she was careful not to let Kiba notice.

"Did you get your grandmother to teach you how to dance?" Hinata teased. "Do you have any idea how old your moves are?"

Kiba had a terrible tendency to allow even the smallest of compliments to get to his head. As a result, whenever Hinata thought he deserved praise, she would ridicule him instead. She found that it helped keep his easily inflated ego in check.

Kiba bared his fang like teeth in a cocky grin that made it clear to Hinata that he thought he was being challenged. She returned his grin confidentially, daring him to try something. It was inevitable that he would. Whenever Hinata wounded his pride, he would always come up with some way of getting back to her. It was like a duel. She had attacked, and now Kiba was watching her carefully, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike back. Hinata, however, was determined to not give him an opportunity.

He lead Hinata a step back, and as Hinata was leaning her weight into him, he pivoted and swung Hinata in a fast downward arc. She failed to stifle a shriek of surprise as she plummeted towards the ground, but at the last second, Kiba's strong arms stopped Hinata's fall and pulled her back to her feet.

"Not that old apparently," Kiba said with an annoying smile as Hinata hastily regained her balance.

Hinata flushed with embarrassed, fully aware of the curious stares and scattered snickering laughs that were directed at her.. She punched Kiba in the arm hard, causing him to wince. "That wasn't funny, jerk!" she snapped with a scowl. "You could have dropped me!"

"Ow," he howled, massaging where Hinata had punched him. "That was funny! You were laughing." he protested.

Hinata did her best to suppress the smile that was tugging at her lips, but failed. "Fine," she consented with a chuckle. "Maybe it was kind of funny."

With yet another one of their short lived squabbles behind them, they continued dancing. The song ended, and despite their agreement to only have one dance, Hinata made no attempt to break away and Kiba didn't feel it necessary to remind her.

Several of the songs that the DJ played were unfamiliar to Hinata. An aristocrat's taste in music was supposed to be awfully selective, and the latest hip-hop remixes from Konoha's thriving underground techno scene somehow didn't make the cut. She felt clumsy at first, trying in vain to emulate the way Kiba seemed to glide across the dance floor. She blushed furiously whenever Kiba gave her a sly, teasing smile, but after she stopped feeling so self-conscious, she started to enjoy herself.

"Having fun?" Kiba asked.

Hinata nodded breathlessly. "Is it just me or is it really hot in here?" she asked, fanning her face. Beads of perspiration were dripping down her brow, and her dress suddenly felt uncomfortably tight and hot.

"It's a little warm, I guess." He replied. He tilted his head to the side and looked at her, concerned. Though naturally fair skinned, in the gymnasium's dim lighting Hinata looked sickly pale. "Are you alright, Hinata? You don't look so good."

She laughed shakily and shook her head ."No, I'm fine," she said. A shinobi like her was trained to be on her feet and moving for hours at a time. An hour of dancing certainly could not be enough to fatigue her. But if that was true, then why did she suddenly feel so tired?

"Liar." Kiba said. "You look like you're about to pass out. Here, let's sit down."

Hinata tried to protest, but a moment later decided to listen to her friend. Whatever was ailing her was getting worst by the second, rapidly evolving with each passing moment into something more serious. Her head was spinning and nothing in her body seemed to be working correctly anymore. A minute ago she had been fine, but now it was like her body was shutting down. As Kiba tried to escort her to the side of the gym, her legs trembled, threatening to fail at any minute.

"K-Kiba," she said. "S-somethings wrong."

* * *

At first no one noticed the poisonous gas filtering into the high school. It was practically invisible, both colorless and almost odorless, and perfected by one of the most proficient chemists in the world to be as clandestine as it was potent. It seeped into the gymnasium, into the classrooms, into the corridors and hallways through the building's air conditioning ducts, and with naught but a bare hiss that the thundering music easily concealed. It dispersed throughout the school with a silent and methodical swiftness, and it was only until it was far too late for anyone to do anything about it did the students finally notice that something was oddly amiss.

It was Tenten that noticed the presence of the gas first. Standing on the side of the gym, her arms crossed across her chest, she had been busy brooding about Neji's absence when her nose twitched slightly. All shinobi were trained to hone their senses, whether it be sight or smell, to an almost supernatural level of precision, but it was a skill that required a great deal of concentration and focus. Tenten was one of the few students there not entirely absorbed in dancing, and even then it was only perhaps by chance did she detect the faint but distinctly foul smell of gas that marred the air.

Curious, Tenten glanced around the gymnasium, searching for where the smell might be coming from. Though not a particularly strong smell, it had a disgusting burning-of-trash odor that made her nose wrinkle in displeasure.

"Do you smell that?" asked Tenten, nudging a girl standing beside her.

"Smell what?" replied the girl absently, clearly not paying her any attention.

"You don't smell that?" she insisted. "It smells like something is burning!"

The girl shrugged her shoulder, giving her a look that clearly suggested she thought Tenten was crazy, and then turned away.

Tenten frowned, but then a few moments later began to feel self-conscious and silly for being so paranoid. She wasn't sure why she was getting all worked about a strange smell. Konoha High was an old building; it was hardly the first time a strange odor had arisen in the least likely of places. At worst, perhaps some prankster had decided to let loose a stink bomb in the air vents. That sounded exactly like something one of the losers in her class like Naruto or Kyo might try to do.

Laughing softly at herself, Tenten smiled and turned her gaze back to the dance floor. Her good humor, however, did not last long. Several more minutes past and Neji still had yet to make an appearance. One song would end and another would begin, and Tenten felt like a complete fool standing on the sidelines while the rest of her classmates had the time of their life. She crossed her arms across her chest and her clenched involuntarily as she enviously glared at the dancing couples on the gym floor.

How dare Neji have the audacity to show her up like this! He had not even made an attempt to call her and to apologize or explain. She didn't care if Neji was the captain of the soccer team, gorgeously handsome, brilliantly smart, or incredibly popular. No one, not even the great Hyuga Neji,made a fool of her and got away with it. As far as Tenten was concerned, the boy better have broken both his legs walking to the dance. Because if he hadn't, Tenten was certain that could easily be arranged.

She dug into her purse and looked at her phone absently, only half heartedly entertaining the hope that Neji might have called her since the last time she checked five minutes ago. Tenten furrowed her eyebrow quizzically. Neji had not called, of course, but it dawned on her that she would have never known if he had. Her phone wasn't receiving a signal. Thinking that maybe her phone had broken, she reached back into her purse and grabbed another phone. It was smaller and designed with an extra strength radio broadcaster in case of emergencies. That phone, however, was also dead.

"Impossible," she whispered under her breath. There had never been a problem with the phone reception in the gym. During gym class, whenever the teacher wasn't looking, Tenten was always on her phone sending text messages to her friends.

Slightly more worried than she had been a minute ago, Tenten anxiously glanced around the gymnasium to see if she wasn't alone in her concern. No one else seemed to notice anything was out of the ordinary. But then again, they were so focused on dancing and having a good time. Tenten doubted anything short of an explosion going off would jar them from their rapture.

She decided to go outside for a moment and get some air. It was a little hot in the noisy gym what with all the sweating bodies mingling side by side in such close proximity. Maybe the heat was making her delusional. At the very least she would be able to make a phone call outside and hopefully find out where the hell her absent boyfriend was.

Just as Tenten was preparing to leave, a chorus of loud shrieks shattered the evening's revelry. The DJ's music came to a jarring halt, leaving the gymnasium with a spacious void of silence that was soon filled with the hysterical shouting of a dozen students.

"He just collapsed!" one girl was yelling in between giant sobs.

"She did too!" said a boy's voice. "I was standing right next to them and they just fell over!"

A crowd of spectators was forming in the middle of the gymnasium as students congregated around to find out what happened. Tenten quickly elbowed her way through the crowd, pushing and shoving her classmates aside until she had fought her way into the middle. A medic and two of the instructor chaperons were kneeling over the sprawled out bodies of a boy and a girl.

It was Kiba and Hinata. A stab of cold fear shot through Tenten when she saw her friends lying there unconscious. They were both still breathing, but this fact did little to assuage her placate her concern.

"They're asleep," the medic stated plainly.

"Asleep?" demanded the instructor.

"Looks like they were exposed to some sort of sleeping agent. Maybe in their drinks?" speculated the medic with a shrug. "It was probably some sort of practical joke. I'm going to go get a stretcher and then we can get them to the hospital wing until they wake-"

The medic suddenly froze in mid sentence. His eyes widened and his knees shook as he tried to stand. His mouth hung open as his hand clawed at the air, and then, wordlessly, he toppled onto the gymnasium floor beside Hinata and Kiba.

"Hey!" shouted Tenten's instructor, rushing to the fallen medic's side. He slapped the medic in the face repeatedly, but the medic would not stir, trapped in the same abrupt slumber that had claimed the two students. "Wake up!"

Panic apparent on her instructor's face, he whirled around and addressed his fellow Jounin. "Something isn't right. Call for back up. We're going to have to evacuate the gymnasium."

But it was already too late. The wave of sudden unconsciousness was infectious, spreading swiftly through the crowd of students standing nearby. One after the other they began falling to the floor. Beside each other, on top of one another, two, three, five students deep, the students of Konoha High crumbled to the gymnasium floor without so much as a cry of alarm. The Jounin Instructor, seconds after saying his final words, also fell with a tremendous thud that seemed to send a tremor through the building.

"Everyone, please!" shouted the remaining conscious Instructor. "Remain calm and make your way to the exit!"

No one listened to the Instructor's commands and there was no way to enforce order. The instructor was all alone; in the progressively growing sea of unmoving bodies around him, he could identify the blank faces of his co-workers and the team of Konoha security guards who were supposed to be protecting them. To his credit, though, the instructor was a true Jounin and never lost his calm and composure. He stood there, in the middle of the gym, doing his best to guide his students to safety right until the moment he was knocked out. One moment he was motioning kids towards the exit, and then the next his body abruptly went limp. Like a marionette with its strung cut, he fell into a boneless heap.

Pandemonium ensued as students who were still conscious ran for the gymnasium's exit. Just panic. Just alarm. Just hysteria. Pushing, shoving, trampling indifferently on the still forms of their friends and classmates, they made a mad dash for the doors amidst a scream of frenzied screams, cries and curses. But there was no escape from the invisible force that lashed out to claim its victims. Some of the students almost made it to the gym exit. One boy made a mad dive for the handle, but in mid-leap, his eyes rolled backwards and he was unconscious before he hit the ground.

One by one the last of the fleeing students were cut down. Their terrified screaming subsided into silence as slumber overtook them, and almost as soon as it had begun, Tenten was the only person still standing.

A lone island in an ocean of her unmoving classmates, Tenten could only stare in dumbfounded horror. Her entire body trembled as she walked from one body to the next. First she checked their vitals to make sure they were still alive, and then she would try to wake them up. She was relieved to find that everyone was still breathing like Kiba and Hinata still were, but none of them stirred regardless of how hard she shook them.

"Alright, Tenten, think, think, think." she muttered. Tenten wasn't sure why she alone was still conscious, but she could not afford to waste time dwelling on it. She couldn't freak out and curl into a ball and start crying like she wanted to. No, she was a Konoha Shinobi, and she was trained to respond to freak scenarios like this.

Tenten had no doubt that the widespread unconsciousness was caused by the gas that she had smelled earlier, but she was almost certain it wasn't one of Naruto's or Kyo's pranks. Gas of this potency was military grade would be too expensive for either of the two clowns to buy and too complex for them to ever dream of concocting on their own. Some unknown third party had slipped the gas into the air vents, and over the last several minutes it had been seeping into the gymnasium completely undetected.

She had to get help. That was all she could do at this point. Run and get help. Tenten had no idea how dangerous the gas was, who had introduced it into Konoha High, or whether or not her friends were ever going to wake up, but he did know that nothing was going to get solved by standing around and doing nothing.

Tenten made her way to the gym exit, taking special care not to step on the bodies that littered the floor, and shoved open the door that lead to the school's main corridor.

There were several heavily armed men dressed in black military fatigues and gas masks waiting for her on the other side. They looked like special forces. From their armored vests laden with ammunition and grades to the way they stood there poised, ready for combat, the soldiers emanated an aura of deadly professionalism that unnerved Tenten. For a moment, they looked at Tenten as if surprised to see her. Equally confused, Tenten could only stare wordlessly back at them.

It took her a moment to piece two and two together, to realize that these men with masks and machine guns were probably the ones who had just ruthlessly gassed her and her friends. It was one moment far too long.

"Oh," she whispered.

There were two loud banging noises, an explosive sound that echoed through the narrow halls of Konoha High and resounded noisily in Tenten's ears. Her body shuddered as something hard struck her in the center of her abdomen, but surprisingly, there wasn't any pain. It was only when she realized how weak her legs felt and how light headed her head was did she realize that something was wrong. Gingerly, she reached down to inspect her stomach.

Her hands returned slick with blood. It shimmered brilliantly underneath the overhead fluorescent lights, and for some reason, the only thing that Tenten could think about was how well the particular shade matched the dress she was wearing. A moment later, her legs buckled and gave way. Her head hit the ground with a thud, but all she felt was a dull vibration as the impact resonated through her body. She tried to move, tried to stand back up and fight her way past the soldiers. But her body was far too weak for that. It took all her concentration to not black out immediately, and even then, an ominous cloud of darkness was hovering threateningly in the corner of her vision.

The last thing she heard before she passed out was the soldiers talking.

"Set the explosives," said one of the men. "Charlie and Delta squad should be entering in through the second floor and taking care of the balconies any second now. Rendezvous with them, arm the bombs where the plans specify, and then head outside."

"Yes, sir," chorused the soldiers. One of them inquired, "What do we do if we run into any more of the freaks that weren't knocked out by the gas?"

The leader of the squad knelt down beside Tenten's unmoving, bleeding form and placed the barrel of his machine gun against her skull. "What do you think?" he asked.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry again for the horribly late chapter upload. Same excuse as always. Just incredibly busy. But, on a more optimistic note, I am almost done with school so hopefully I will be able to start writing more once summer rolls around. Until then, thanks for your patience! This chapter took forever to write. Hopefully, the next ones will be a little easier! As always, drop a comment if you're reading. Just takes a second and nothing says "write faster" than your opinion about the story.


	61. Chapter 61

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Nothing new here folks. Same as it's always been.

Summary:  
Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-One: Retaliation**

"It's beautiful out, isn't it?" Ino remarked as she leaned her slender arms over the balcony's railings and peered out down at the snow covered courtyards of Konoha High beneath them.

Shikamaru had to agree that it was. The bitterly chilling winds had subsided into a gentle, pleasant breeze, and the only traces of the once heavy snowfall was a light, white mist that cascaded over the two shinobi. It was gorgeous weather, the best Konoha had seen in weeks, and Shikamaru's inherent skepticism could not help but observe how uncanny and improbable this abrupt change in weather conditions was.

At the same time, the Nara clan shinobi realized, as strange and this good weather was, it seemed only appropriate that tonight's lucky streak should continue. For a moment, when Ino had asked him to join her for a private dance on the balcony, he had been momentarily terrified that it would be too cold to go out. As it was, however, the perfect weather was just another fortuitous windfall in his perfect night with Ino.

Leaning over the balcony, Ino laughed with all the exuberance and excitement of a young child on their first trip to the zoo. A gust of wind washed over her face, whipping through her long, blond hair in a way Shikamaru could not help but find amazingly attractive. He also could not help but notice how the hem of her purple dress was rising higher and higher every time she leaned forward.

Shikamaru gulped deeply as it rode up her thigh, revealing more and more of her delectably long, smooth legs...

She turned her head and grinned devilishly at him,

"What are you staring at?" she demanded, a mischievous sparkle in her blue eyes.

Shikamaru flushed and cleared his throat deeply to hide his embarrassment. He had not realized that he had been staring. "I was thinking about how ridiculous you look right now."

Ino snorted and shot a nasty scowl at her date, her feet still idly kicking away at the balcony railing just like a child ten years younger than her might. "I need to teach you how to talk to girls, Shikamaru." she snapped.

"I'm sorry," Shikamaru retorted insincerely. "You look absolutely gorgeous acting like a five year old child."

"You were being sarcastic," Ino replied, but smiled triumphantly anyway. "But I'll take it. Thank you."

She patted the stretch of metal railing beside her invitingly. "Why don't you come join me?"

Shikamaru, however, crossed his arms and remained where he was. "No."

Ino looked at him quizzically. "Why not?"

"I want to know why you're doing this," the Nara clan shinobi stated plainly.

She frowned. "I thought we've been through this already. I asked you to the dance because I wanted to."

"Sure, I understand that, but what about all this?" he demanded, waving an arm to indicate the empty balcony they were standing on. "I'm not stupid, Ino. I know why couples go up here for, and I know you didn't drag me up here for that. What are you playing at?"

There was no way for Shikamaru to silence his instincts, that told him Ino was toying with him again, any longer. He had wanted to sit back and enjoy a magical evening with his beautiful, blond classmate, but old habits died hard. He might be an idiot for opening his big mouth and ruining a shot of hooking up with Ino, but he would not be a fool and play along with whatever game Ino was entertaining herself with.

The blond haired ninja raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she asked with an air of haughtiness in her voice.

Ino started walking towards him, swaying her hips seductively in a way that made Shikamaru suddenly feel uncomfortably warm. "And how exactly do you know what I want, Shikamaru?" she asked.

"I asked you to the dance," Ino said, pressing the tip of her index finger against her lips coyly. She pushed her chest out, and Shikamaru suddenly realized just how much of her bountiful cleavage the tight confines of her dress so generously displayed. "And you agreed. Now, if you thought I was toying with you still, why would you say yes?"

"Because I didn't feel like staying home," replied Shikamaru.

"And?"

"Because," Shikamaru swallowed deeply as Ino drew closer, trying his best not to stare at her breasts. It was difficult, and he was failing miserably. "You're really hot."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Well, thanks, but why else?"

"B-because..."

She was now directly in front of him, her blue eyes staring adamantly up at his. He could feel her breath on his skin, and, standing so close, he knew Ino could hear the thundering beat of his frantically racing heart. Shikamaru smiled awkwardly at her. It suddenly occurred to him that despite his in depth knowledge in strategy and tactics, he didn't have a plan for what to do next.

Fortunately for Shikamaru, his good luck persisted. He may not have had a clue on how to proceed, but Ino did.

Standing on her toes, Ino reached up and pulled Shikamaru's face down towards her until their lips met. Shikamaru's eyes widened as he felt her delicious, moist lips press against his, and it took every ounce of self-control not to accidentally push her away in shock.

His eyes closed as his mind struggled to make sense of what was happening. Unlike the other boys in his class, Shikamaru rarely thought about such trivialities like kissing, and as a result he really had no expectations on what a first kiss should be like. Even if he had had expectations, though, Shikamaru was positive the kiss he was currently sharing with Ino would have blown them away.

The kiss, just like everything else that had transpired tonight, was perfect.

"Or maybe," Ino whispered into his ear, slapping him gently on the cheek. "It's because you decided to stop being an excessively paranoid tool and trust me for a change."

Shikamaru chuckled shakily. "That could be it. I think it's more because you're hot though."

Ino laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Liar. " she said.

He smiled and rested his forehead against hers. "So what now?"

"Want to dance?" she asked. Her body was pressed firmly up against his, pinning him securely against the balcony railing. Clearly, dancing was the last thing on her mind.

He shook his head hastily, suppressing the urge to moan. The glorious sensation that coursed through Shikamaru when she touched him was driving him crazy. "No, not really."

"Well then," She looked up at him, with a teasing smile, a playful glint reflecting in her eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well maybe..."

The sound of the door, which connected the balcony to the rest of the school, slamming shut behind them startled the two lovers, rudely jarring them from their moment of romantic bliss. Furious at the interruption, Shikamaru whirled around, ready to tell whatever unfortunate couple that had interrupted their privacy to take a hike.

"Hey," Shikamaru snarled, "This balcony is already taken! Go find somewhere-"

His words faded away as a cold fear gripped his body. Fanned out across the balcony were not his fellow classmates at Konoha High, but a squad of six heavily armed soldiers clad in black and holding guns. There was no emblem of allegiance on their camouflaged jumpsuits, but the infrared aiming dots from their rifles that danced across Shikamaru's chest made their affiliations all too apparent.

"Ino get down!" Shikamaru yelled, grabbing Ino by her shoulders and violently throwing her to the floor. As soon as he was sure she was out of the line of fire, he spun around, his hands already reaching out to manipulate the shadows underneath the soldier's feet. Maybe if he was lucky he could trap them in a body bind long enough for Ino to run and get help.

The soldiers opened fire before Shikamaru could finish executing his technique, hitting the young shinobi multiple times. His body exploded in agony as a bullet ripped through his shoulder. He grunted in shock as another round tore through his abdomen, splashing his blood against the balcony floor. A third bullet smashed into his arm, sending the wounded shinobi staggering backwards until his bullet riddled form was trapped against the railing.

"Shit," Shikamaru swore. He didn't have to look down to know that blood was seeping rapidly through his suit, traveling down his nice pants and dripping onto the cold, marble. "How troublesome..."

The pain in his chest was subsiding, transforming into a paralyzing numbness that was quickly spreading into his arms and legs. His head was swimming from blood loss, and his vision was beginning to flicker. The last thing he remembered was looking down at Ino and seeing the look of shock and horror frozen on her beautiful features. He smiled and chuckled hollowly. It seemed only consistent with his luck that such a wonderful, incredible night should end so terribly.

One of the soldiers stepped forward, drew his handgun, and aimed it at the wounded young Shinobi.

"Sorry, kid." He said, pulling back the gun's hammer with a portentous _click_. "It's nothing personal."

* * *

Ino was too stunned to do anything at first when the soldiers first stormed onto the balcony with their machine guns drawn. When it came down to it, her Shinobi training abandoned her, leaving her paralyzed with fear and helpless. Shikamaru, though, had not hesitated for even a second before doing exactly what his years of training dictated. He had pushed her out of the line of fire and immediately began formulating a counter-attack despite the opponent's element of surprise.

She had just lied there on the ground, frozen and useless, observing like an impotent spectator while Shikamaru tried his best to save both their skins. Her mind was screaming at her to get up, to rally to her friends side. Together, they could stand a chance of escaping from this ambush with their lives. But no matter how loud her mind yelled at her, her body refused to move. She was afraid -no, terrified -of standing up where she might get hurt by the group of soldiers with their lethal looking guns.

She could only watch in horror as Shikamaru was gunned down in a hailstorm of bullets, could only wordlessly stare in petrified fear as he fell against the balcony's railing. Bloodied and potentially fatally wounded, Shikamaru turned and their eyes met for a moment.

"Sorry, kid." one of the soldiers said. "It's nothing personal."

Shikamaru did not have a chance to say anything more, but Ino's psychic powers allowed her to hear his final thoughts all too clearly: _I'm sorry, Ino. I love yo-_

The deafening crescendo of a final gunshot interrupted Shikamaru's thoughts as a final bullet plunged into his defenseless body. The impact of the bullet shoved Shikamaru backwards and, too weak to readjust his momentum, the young Shinobi was tossed over the side of the balcony.

That was when something in Ino's mind snapped. A rage, a livid fury that Ino had never known exploded within in her, and for one, fiery moment of intense anger she could only see billowing red flames engulf her world. The fear that froze her into inaction melted and the shackles that made her helpless to save her friend's life shattered in the face of an inferno of unbridled emotion and hatred.

Ino's father had always warned her about the great powers that she as a Yamanaka clan shinobi wielded. The power to intrude into someone else's mind, to either steal thoughts or memories or to usurp control over an individual's body, was an awesome one indeed, but it was not without its fair share of dangers and conditions as well. In order to safely and responsibly harness the paranormal, psychic powers of Ino's clan, constant self-control was necessarily.

It was something Ino had always struggled with. Unlike other Shinobi, who could alternate their Chakra levels to produce certain techniques, Ino could never truly shut off her powers. At any given time, if not for her training, she was in constant danger of accidentally entering into the minds of her classmates, instructors, or fellow villagers. The best Ino could do was suppress her powers, but even that required a constant conscious effort on her part. One slip, one small distraction and she could unintentionally dominant someone's mind and force them to do her bidding.

The powers of the Yamanaka clan was one of Konoha's strongest weapons, and her father had spent years training Ino on how to control it.

But right now, Ino did not care about control. Her body trembling with barely constrained rage, Ino stood up and faced her friend's murderers. When they aimed their weapons at her, she laughed sinisterly, an uncharacteristically malevolent smile on her face. She did not want to be in control of her powers. Control was what made her weak, what prevented her from helping Shikamaru. She did not care about what her powers might do; she just wanted to hurt someone. Badly.

"Are you going to shoot me?" Ino asked playfully.

The soldiers just looked at her. Though they stood only a few feet away from her, their weapons pointed right at her face, none of them opened fire like they had done so unhesitatingly to Shikamaru. A few of them even had their fingers wrapped tight around the trigger, but no shots were fired.

It normally took Ino a great deal of concentration in order to manipulate the mind of an individual, but right now, with her powers unconstrained and amplified by her fury, it was child's play to wrest control away from a group of normal soldiers. A Shinobi was trained to ward off psychics like Ino, but normal men like these gun wielding troopers never stood a chance.

She chuckled cruelly. "That's what I thought. Now, why don't you point those things somewhere a bit safer?"

The soldiers, their minds so enslaved to Ino's will that they could not even contemplate the idea of resisting her command, obediently turned their machine guns away from the blonde haired Shinobi and pointed them at one another instead.

A few of the men, Ino noticed, were still in control enough of their bodies and minds to realize what was going on. Their eyes were wide with horror, unable to believe what was happening. In the blink of an eye, they had been rendered helpless by a teenage girl. Their weapons had been turned against them and they were powerless to fight back. Their eyes were staring straight at her, silently begging her for mercy.

They had never been trained to deal with Shinobi, Ino realized as she sifted through their hysterical thoughts. They were skilled in conventional warfare where their superior technology and element of surprise would have guaranteed them victory. Far too late had they discovered that fighting Shinobi, true, gifted Shinobi like Ino, was a whole different story.

Surprisingly, one of the soldiers was strong willed enough to momentarily regain control of part of his body. Though his limbs were still frozen in place, his finger a mere gesture away from pulling the trigger on his gun, he was able to look at Ino and shout, "Please, please don't do this!"

Ino raised an eyebrow and walked over to the man, her heels clicking ominously on marble stone with every deliberate, slow step.

"I-I have a wife and two kids," the masked commando whimpered, pleadingly. "We're just following orders."

It only took Ino a second to confirm the truth of what the soldier was saying. As she meticulously combed through his thoughts, images of the man's entire life flashed before Ino's eyes.

The man's name was Hanzo Mita. He was from a town built in a cragged, rock valley in the middle of Earth Country. He had joined the military at age seventeen and had excelled at it, earning the rank of Captain in just three years. A beautiful young lady was sitting on the porch of their small home, eagerly anticipating her husband's return. Their two small children were sitting nearby, holding their mother's hand as they too waited to hear news of their father's secret mission into the heart of the enemy nation of Konoha.

Captain Mita had left his wife and children to go on a mission that his superiors had lied to him and his men about. His commanding officer told him Konoha was only days away from invading Earth Country. They would pillage, rape, and murder his people. Only a sneak attack on Konoha would prevent the destruction of his home and his family.

In a different time and in a different place, Ino might have felt sorry for the man. She might have even let them survive. But right now, all Ino could think of was the way they had so callously murdered her friend Shikamaru.

_He loved me and sacrificed his life to save me..._Ino thought. _And I did nothing to help him._

"Sorry," said Ino in a dark, cruel voice that sounded nothing like her normal self. "It's nothing personal."

She was lying though. It was very personal to her.

"Oh God, please no." The man sobbed. "Please don't -"

The shrill chorus of machine gun fire briefly resounded into the night, and then it was over.

The subsequent silence was almost as deafening as the gunfire, and for a moment, Ino could only stand there and look in transfixed shock and horror at what she had just done. A second ago, six men had been standing there. Now, a half dozen corpses littered the blood splattered balcony.

Confused, Ino blinked her eyes repeatedly, hoping that each time she opened her eyes a different sight might appear and that this had all been some kind of horrible nightmare.

Had she actually done this? She had to have -there was no one else in sight. But she could only vaguely recall what had just transpired; it had all gone by in a such a swift, incoherent blur that she could barely begin to piece together what had just happened. One moment, she had been lying on the floor, too scared and too stupid to fight back and now...

A cold wind whipped through her snow covered hair, sending a shiver down her spine.

The air was thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder and the stench of blood. Ino stumbled backwards, her dress and her skin also stained red with the gore of the men she had just executed. Her legs wobbled unsteadily as she made her way back towards where Shikamaru had disappeared, a disgustingly sick feeling rising up in her stomach. She did not want to look over the side and gaze upon the broken and lifeless body of her friend where it had fallen in the snow several feet below. Shikamaru had to be dead. If the gunshots had not killed him, the fall would have.

After taking a deep breath to prepare herself for the worst, Ino gripped the railing tightly and peered over the side.

Only Shikamaru's body was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Author's Notes:  
Sorry again about the long delays. Finals are finally done so I have the whole entire summer to write. Also, I received my first flame review (might have been the second, actually) which just goes to show you...something I guess. I always reasoned that no story I write is any good until someone comes along telling me it sucks.

Liked the chapter? Disliked the chapter? Think I should start writing more than one chapter a month Think the latter half of this chapter seemed way too familiar to Code Geass? Let me know in the review box! Thanks!


	62. Chapter 62

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty Two – All in Flames**

The Hokage sighed as she set down her pin and took a moment to gently massage her aching temples. The paperwork she had set out to do was almost complete –-for the first time in years it had been all read, reviewed, signed and then catalogued in neat, organized piles on her desk. It had been no easy feat by any means, however. Tsunade had endured more than a few sleepless nights locked away in her office to ensure it was all finished in time for the Winter Dance.

She glanced up at an old grandfather cloak that sat against a nearby wall. It was almost midnight. If she hurried, she just might be able to pay a visit to her students before the gymnasium closed. With any luck, she would even get there in time to watch the last dance of the night.

Tsunade picked up a paper and began looking through it, but she was barely paying attention. Her mind kept drifting back to the gymnasium where her teenage students were having fun, dancing, and, in all likelihood, violating school rules and drinking.

The Hokage smiled faintly. It may have been almost four decades since the last time she attended a school dance as a student, but time had not dulled the fun memories she had of those nights.

Though she would never admit it, part of the reason why Tsunade was always so eager to visit the dance every year was because it made her feel young again. It made her feel, if only for a few minutes, that she a carefree, irresponsible teenage girl whose only worries were if her fake ID was going to fool the bouncer at the after party and if the charming, but oh-so-quiet, boy she secretly had a crush on would have the guts to ask her to dance.

There was a new dress still wrapped in plastic hanging in her office's closet that the Hokage had purchased earlier this week. She was almost ashamed to have indulged her vanity by buying a dress just for her brief appearance at the dance, but at the same time, it almost seemed like such a waste not to.

Now that Tsunade had the resources –-not to mention the voluptuously curvy body -–that she had lacked as a young student, it seemed only prudent to take advantage of the situation while circumstances still allowed. After all, she would only remain looking young for so long.

The Hokage was just preparing to return to her work when a loud, thundering sound in the distance distracted her. She looked up from her papers, her ears straining to catch another hint of the abrupt noise.

Tsunade did not have to wait long. Scarcely a second later, there was another boomingnoise followed quickly by another and then another. A fainter, crackling noise rang through the air, punctuating the brief lull in between each resounding, explosive _bang _that echoed throughout the night sky. It sounded like a chorus of fireworks were going off, but she knew no one had scheduled such an event.

Yet another explosion detonated with a raucous _boom_, but this time, the shockwave from the blast sent a slight tremor through the Hokage's office. Her desk wobbled as the loud noise washed over Tsunade, and one of her piles of tidily stacked papers began to tilt precariously.

_Either the students have really gotten out of hand this year or…_ the Hokage thought as she slowly rose from her chair.

Perhaps it was her own personal paranoia, or maybe it was an innate sixth sense that warned her that something was amiss. A chill of fear descended down her spine, and alarmed, she raced to her large, office window that overlooked the entire village.

Konoha, the city she loved and had sworn to protect, was burning.

Clouds of billowing smoke towered into the night sky from the blazing ruins of a dozen different buildings around the city. The booming noises, Tsunade realized in horror, were explosions detonating. Every few seconds, a brilliant flash of light would briefly illuminate the darkness, and another building would suddenly become engulfed in a sea of flames and smoke.

From her window, she could see the diminutive forms of her people fleeing in panic, screaming in terror as they raced to escape the destruction.

The deafening staccato of continuous gunfire was now all too clear, and it was only then, once Tsunade was able to finally realize the horrors that were transpiring, did the village's alarms begin to sound.

The shrill, blaring sirens of Konoha's emergency alarms filled the air, momentarily drowning out the chaos.

"All citizens of Konoha," a voice that Tsunade recognized as one of the village elders, "Please stay inside and lock your doors while the Konoha military and law enforcement deal with the situation. I repeat, stay inside and lock your doors. This is not a drill."

_This is not a drill…_

As she watched the fires burn, a sick, nauseous filling swept over Tsunade and she felt the urge to wretch., She was waiting –-no praying -–that the village elder would return and reassure everyone that this was all some sort of elaborate military exercise, but he never did.

This was no prank, no test; no drill.

Konoha was under attack. Tsunade, the village's Hokage and leader, had failed to protect it.

For a moment, her eyes could scarcely believe what they were seeing. How could this have happened? How could she have left her people so vulnerable to attack?

Quickly, she began recounting every decision she had made as Hokage over the last several months, swiftly analyzing each one in a desperate effort to unearth the source of her mistake that allowed Konoha to be so blatantly invaded. Each possibility, however, seem less even more likely than the one before.

Ever since her encounter with Orochimaru earlier that year, she had invested countless hours of her time and the village's money to ensure its security against any sort of attack. When Naruto and his friends had run into that terrorist in the sewers of Konoha earlier, Tsunade had combed through the village's defense strategy, searching for even the smallest flaw in what her staff believed to be an ironclad plan.

There had been none. Nothing had been overlooked and every contingency had been either adequately prepared for defended against. The city's defense plan was supposed to be perfect.

The Hokage was not given long to dwell on her failure, though.

Tsunade detected the sound of someone running towards her office. She might have been stuck behind a desk ever since the village had appointed her Hokage, but her keen, Shinobi senses and reflexes had not dulled a bit.

When the heavy, double doors to her office were thrown open and a soldier sprinted in, machine gun blazing, Tsunade was already prepared. Though renowned more for her strength and her prowess as a healer, the Hokage was still swift enough to avoid the onslaught of spitting lead.

Wood from her desk splintered, her documents disintegrated into clouds of shredded paper, and glass shattered as round after round from the soldier's weapon destroyed her office, but not a single bullet came close to scratching Tsunade.

With a furious roar, she lunged forward. One hand slapped away the soldier's weapon while the other enclosed around his throat. Though the commando was easily a foot taller and heavier than Tsunade, the Hokage had no difficulty lifting him off his feet and slamming him against the wall hard enough to crack its surface.

"Who sent you?" she snarled, her fingers digging into the man's flesh. "Who the hell are you working for?"

The soldier didn't answer, but instead struggled in desperation to break away from the Hokage. No matter how hard he fought, however, Tsunade's hold on the man was like a vice. Tsunade's strength was legendary even amongst the Shinobi, and it was strength that the soldier was quickly becoming accustomed to first hand as her grip tightened around his windpipe.

"Talk!" Tsunade growled.

The man gave one last feeble attempt to break free, but then suddenly went limp in Tsunade's grip. His head flopped against his chest and his arms went slack, falling loosely by his side. He made a sort of despaired, guttural noise, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as a foamy white drool spilled from his lips.

_Cyanide, _the Hokage realized with a scowl of irritation, dropping the dead soldier on the ground. She wouldn't be getting any questions answered from the corpse lying on the floor of her office, but fortunately, his abrupt death spoke volumes anyhow.

The attackers, most likely Special Forces commandos from Rock and Lightening country, had come with no intention of surrendering. They would die before being captured, which meant this attack was not a coordinated, strategic assault on Konoha but instead a brazen, suicide attack.

Whether these men actually realized theirs was a suicide mission Tsunade could only speculate. She would not put it pass Orochimaru to send men to their death without letting them know.

"Hokage!" Shizune yelled as she barreled into Tsunade's office with a squad of ANBU close behind her. "Are you alright?"

Tsunade noticed all of them showed signs of combat –Shizune had a deep cut over her left eye, and one of the masked Shinobi commandos had his hand wrapped in bloody bandages. Wherever they had just come from, they had evidently had to fight their way to her office.

"Are you hurt?" Shizune asked, alarmed. "We came to find you as soon as the alarms went off, but we ran into-"

The Hokage held up a hand, silencing her friend. There would be time to recollect later. For now, she had more important matters at hand.

"What's our status?" Tsunade inquired.

Shizune dug into the pocket of her robes and extracted a bloodied scrap of paper covered in illegible scrawling.

"Scattered attacks have been reported around the city. There are maybe forty of them. Soldiers, not Shinobi. We don't know where they're from yet." Shizune read. "They're attacking civilians and military targets indiscriminately."

One of the ANBU guardsmen accompanying Shizune stepped forward. "We have a team trying to figure out how they got into the city, and in the meantime, all ANBU and Shinobi squads have been deployed with Captain Yugao to counter the attack. All civilians have been told to barricade themselves within their homes."

"How many casualties?" Tsunade asked, fearful of what the answer might be.

Shizune shook her head. "We don't know yet for sure. The hospitals are full with dead and wounded and more keep coming in. Early estimates puts it at four-hundred wounded and seventy-five dead so far."

Tsunade swore darkly but quickly regained her composure. There would be time to grieve later. "What about Konoha High and the students?"

Shizune fell silent and looked away, unable to look the Hokage in the eye.

A cold dread filled Tsunade, making her arms and legs feel weak. She grabbed Shizune by the shoulders and shook her. "What happened to the students?"

"We don't know," Shizune admitted, her voice a bare whisper that was almost drowned out by the ongoing cacophony of gunfire in the distance. "We know the school was one of the attacker's primary objectives, but as of twenty minutes ago, we've lost all contact with our men inside."

"As per emergency protocol," the ANBU guardsmen said, "The school has been locked down. We have no way in unless we storm the grounds, and all of our resources are concentrated in securing the city's defenses."

As much as Tsunade wanted to send a team of Shinobi to retake the school, she knew that it was not the strategically sound thing to do. All the students inside Konoha High could already be dead for all she knew; she had to focus on the few things that she actually still had over the situation. Ensuring the safety of the rest of their village was one of them.

"Has the Council been evacuated to safety?" Tsunade asked.

"Affirmative," Shizune responded. "We're working on establishing a line of contact with them now."

"Very well. All of you come with me. Shizune, let me know the moment I can speak with the Council." The Hokage said, heading to her office's double doors.

"Hokage," the ANBU guardsmen interrupted. "The Council has ordered me to evacuate you to safety as well."

Tsunade let out a sharp, derisive laugh. If those old fools on the Council thought for a moment she was going to hide too while her village burned, they were even stupider than she thought. She was the Hokage; her responsibilities lay with her people, not with her own self interests.

With a final, fleeting glance at her dress which she would probably never wear now, Tsunade flung open the doors and stormed out of her office and into the fray.

**Author's Notes:  
**Shorter chapter, I know, but it's almost impossible for me to find time to write these days. I'm juggling an internship and a part-time job, so time is definitely a commodity I don't have a whole lot of. Hopefully I'll find some time this next week to write some more and I'll have another chapter ready in the next two weeks. As always, thanks for sticking around and reading the story, guys. I hope you're enjoying it and I'll continue writing as long as I know people are reading, so don't hesitate to drop your thoughts in the review box.

Thanks!


	63. Chapter 63

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-Three – Blood on His Hands**

At first, Naruto thought it had been an errant firework that had awoken him from his nap. His eyes snapped open in alarm, and his body, still resting on Sakura's bed where he had dozed off hours before, tensed instinctively as the room's glass window vibrated from the shockwave.

For a moment, he just laid there, uncertain, his face still buried in Sakura's now drool soaked pillow. He listened closely to chorus of resounding explosions that echoed outside, his sleep addled mind slow to discern the ominous portent they so clearly relayed.

Then he heard the sirens, a piercing, wailing noise that Naruto knew was only reserved for only the direst of crises. It had been almost twenty years since the village had had to use the alarm. Naruto knew this all too well. The last time Konoha had been in a state of emergency was when it was under siege by the Kyubi.

When the bedroom door was thrown open, however, and Sakura's father came rushing in, a loaded rifle in hand, Naruto was quick to scramble to his feet. He didn't ask questions of the older man. The deathly severe look on his face told Naruto everything he needed to know. As quickly as he could, he began grabbing his clothes and tossing them on.

"No questions. Quick, down to the basement," Sakura's father snapped.

Naruto followed him down the stairs and past the living room. As Sakura's father ushered him through the house, Naruto caught a glimpse of a live newscast on the television. Though the din from the sirens made understanding the entirely what the reporter was saying impossible, he could still decipher snippets of it when they hurried past.

"Konoha…under attack…unknown size of enemy forces…"

"Massive casualties…exact number…unknown….stay in doors…remain calm."

"Rumors that Konoha High is under assault…"

Unable to stay being in the dark any longer, Naruto disregarded Sakura's father's instructions and demanded, "Mr. Haruno, what's going on? Did the reporter just say we're under attack?"

"Naruto, now's not the time," he said, gesturing towards the basement door with the barrel of his rifle. "Everything is fine, but we need to get into the basement with Mrs. Haruno right away where it's safe."

Naruto, however, would not be swayed. "I'm not a child, Mr. Haruno." He said coolly. "I'm a Shinobi. Now what's going on?"

For a moment, it looked as though Sakura's father was going to tell Naruto shut up and follow orders, but then he exhaled deeply. His shoulders sagged, and despite the man's tall, muscular build and the rifle he held in his hands, there was an aura of impotence surrounding him.

Naruto could see the fear and panic festering within him, worry slowly gnawing away at the core of his soul while he stood there, helpless to affect the events that were rapidly transpiring around him.

"While you were sleeping," he said softly, his voice barely audible over the sirens. "Konoha came under attack. We don't know who they are, where they come from, or what they want. All we know right now is that they've seized control of a number of key locations around the city and are killing people indiscriminately."

Naruto simply nodded. The moment he had been awoken by the explosions outside, he had suspected that there was some foul play behind it. It made sense, really.

Everything that had occurred over the last few months –Orochimaru's meeting with Tsunade, Itachi's attempt to abduct him, the terrorist attack in the sewers –-had been a prelude to this moment.

Subconsciously, Naruto had always been afraid something like this would happen. Still, he was shocked by how composed he felt. He should be freaking out right now. It would be the normal reaction in the face of such dire circumstances. However, aside from the slightly queasy feeling of anxiety in his stomach, Naruto felt surprisingly calm. Maybe all those years of Shinobi training were finally beginning to display themselves in the teenage ninja.

"What about the school?" Naruto asked next, suddenly concerned about the safety of his friends. "It's got to be the safest place in the city, right?"

Sakura's father shook his head grimly. "No one knows."

Surely Konoha High would have loads of security for a night as high profile as the dance. On a normal day Naruto knew that there were teams of Shinobi constantly watching the school for signs of trouble, so tonight, it had to have been crawling with ANBU and Konoha Jounin. No one could beat those guys, right?

Sakura and Hinata were safe, Naruto tried to reassure himself, but the cold sweat dripping down his forehead and the lump in his throat told him deep down he didn't believe a word of it.

If Konoha's invaders were serious about hurting the village, a large congregation of Shinobi like the high school dance would be their first target.

"So what now?" Naruto asked.

"You're going to go wait in the basement with Sakura's mother," said Mr. Haruno, gripping his rifle tightly. "I'm going to go find my daughter."

"By yourself?" the young Shinobi replied incredulously. "Not a chance. You should stay here with Mrs. Haruno and I'll go find Sakura."

"It's too dangerous!" protested the older man. "There are men with guns outside who are killing people!"

"All the more reason I should be the one going out there," Naruto said. "I'm a trained ninja –I was taught how to deal with situations like this."

It was only a half truth. Naruto was confident he could deal with soldiers with guns, but dealing with a catastrophe like an invasion of the city had hardly been on the syllabus for any class he had taken.

Sakura's father had to know he was correct. The man was a villager, someone without any hint of Shinobi powers. Even with his rifle, the odds of him getting hurt or killed if he ventured outside alone were far too high to risk.

"You won't make it halfway down the block," added Naruto.

Sakura's father walked over towards the window and glanced outside. The streets were empty, but the scattered sounds of gunfire and explosions were growing louder and louder. Their neighborhood had been spared the carnage so far, but unless something was done to stop it, it would reach the house before long.

"No," Sakura's father said, shaking his head after a moment of deliberation. "It's far too dangerous out there, Naruto. Besides, she's my daughter. I should be the one going out to find her."

Naruto clenched his teeth, desperately trying to control the mounting irritation and impatience swelling within him. Every second he wasted arguing with Sakura's father was another second longer before he could make sure Sakura and Hinata were safe. At the same time, though, he very well couldn't let Mr. Haruno march to his death, regardless of how noble of a gesture it might be.

"Mr. Haruno," Naruto said, wrestling to remain calm.

The sound of gunfire was drawing nearer; they had to hurry and make their move before things began to inevitably escalate.

From what Naruto was slowly piecing together from the flashes of news broadcasts playing rapidly in the background, Konoha's security forces were having trouble repelling the attack. Things would only get worst before they got better, and Naruto wanted to get Sakura's family as far away from danger as possible.

"You may be her father, but I'm her friend. What kind of friend would I be if I stayed here and hid while you go out and get yourself hurt or killed?"

Sakura's father had no answer to give as he nervously glanced back and forth between Naruto and the window. Naruto knew Mr. Haruno could see the futility of venturing outdoors alone, but at the same time, his responsibilities as a father conflicted with his instinctive inclination towards self-survival.

"Naruto," Mr. Haruno said, turning away from the window. "I don't think-"

Mr. Haruno's words were suddenly cut short as the wall behind him erupted in a thunderous explosion. The force of the blast flung him and Naruto clear across the room, showering both of them in shards of scorching debris and fragments of sharp glass.

Naruto hit the ground hard enough to knock out a normal man, but he was able to retain conscious, though barely. His ears were ringing, his vision was distorted, and he could feel a trickle of blood streaming down his forehead. Slowly, he crawled his way to his feet and tore a particularly large chunk of glass out of the side of his leg.

A small geyser of blood spurted from the wound, but it quickly abated as Naruto's supernatural healing kicked in. Fresh muscle tissue and flesh regenerated almost instantly, staunching the bleeding and mending the wound.

Sakura's father, however, had not been so fortunate. He had hit the living room wall hard and his body was lying on the ground, twisted in an awkward and painful looking position. His eyes were closed, but Naruto was relieved to see that, at the very least, he was still breathing.

Naruto's first instinct was to rush to Mr. Haruno's aid, but before he could even gather his bearings, two men wearing masks and holding machine guns marched through the wrecked remains of what used to be the house's wall.

"Kill him!" one of them shouted.

For a brief fraction of a second, Naruto's body froze up and he could watch in paralyzed fear as the soldiers pointed the barrels of their weapons at him.

The scorching heat emanating from the smoldering wreckage strewn through Sakura's home, the acrid stench of smoke and gunpowder, the two killers with their guns who intended to kill him like they had undoubtedly to other of Konoha's villagers –-it all was so surreal to him. It was so unfathomable that Naruto's mind had difficulty acknowledging the reality of it all.

For a single, potentially fatal moment, Naruto did not know what to do.

But fortunately for him, the Kyubi residing within him did.

With a howl of demented rage, Naruto charged towards the two men, his right fist cocked back and ready to explode. One of the commandos managed to squeeze off a shot, but the bullet went wide and only grazed Naruto's cheek. The young Shinobi didn't flinch for a moment, and the doomed soldier never had time for a second shot.

Naruto's fist collided with the side of his enemy's face with the force of a sledge hammer. He felt the man's jaw and nose shatter beneath the might of his blow, and immediately twisted away to confront the second soldier. As the second commando's companion crumpled into a boneless heap, Naruto leaped back into the fray, another powerful punch prepared to put an explosive end to the fight.

The second soldier backpedaled quickly to avoid the punch, but in his haste to retreat from Naruto, his foot tripped over a piece of debris. He hit the floor, his gun falling from his grip as he tried to get back to his feet. The young Shinobi, though, didn't give him a chance.

He kicked the soldier in the face, his foot connecting solidly underneath the man's chin. His snapped neck back with a sickening _crack _that resounded audibly even amidst the sound nearby gunfire For a second, the soldier's body swayed unstably, but then his eyes glazed over and he pitched backwards to the ground.

Naruto waited, poised to deliver another punch to either of his attackers if necessary. But it wasn't.

Both men lay there limply, and it took Naruto a few seconds to realize that they were both very much dead. The first man was still slightly convulsing, blood trickling from his fractured skull, but the second was entirely motionless. Judging from the way his neck was bent, Naruto must have broken something.

"You didn't have to kill them," Naruto whispered.

_Of course I did, _replied the Kyubi with a soft, menacing cackle that made Naruto shiver. _They were going to kill all of you, and besides, it felt good, didn't it?_

Naruto wanted to deny it, but found that he couldn't. Though he was a Shinobi by occupation, he never relished taking life. This time, though, he had to admit he felt a little less self-conscious about the two men he had just killed. The Kyubi was right –they had hurt Mr. Haruno and would have killed both of them if Naruto had shown any mercy.

He started moving towards Mr. Haruno with the intention of getting him to a hospital, but then the Kyubi spoke up again.

_Say, didn't you have a pretty friend you needed to help? Or rather, two pretty friends?_

Naruto scowled darkly.

_Wouldn't you think their safety is more important right about now? Every second counts. Tick, tock, tick, tock…_

"Shut up!" the young Shinobi shouted.

He raced over to Sakura's father and dragged him towards the basement. The Kyubi was right –he didn't have time to get Mr. Haruno to a hospital and still have a prayer of finding Sakura or Hinata in time. Still, he wasn't prepared to just leave him unconscious and out in the open for another squad of soldiers to stumble upon.

Naruto felt a pang of guilt when Mrs. Haruno unlocked the basement door and helped him move Sakura's father to a couch. The older man hadn't regained consciousness yet, but a visual inspection suggested that he hadn't suffered any fatal wound. A few broken bones and a minor concussion, but nothing that Mrs. Haruno couldn't fix with a first aid kit.

_Assuming he isn't suffering from internal bleeding, of course, _laughed the Kyubi. _What do you think the chances of that are? 70 percent? 80?_

The blonde-haired ninja didn't waste time telling the Kyubi to shut up again.

Mrs. Haruno was in tears, sobbing as she dabbed her husband's bloody brow with a wet towel. Naruto gently touched her on her shoulder.

"Stay with your husband and keep the door locked," instructed Naruto. "Don't open it for anyone."

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Haruno asked, looking up at her daughter's friend with concern and fear in her eyes.

Naruto was already halfway up the stairs by the time he heard Sakura's mother's question, and it was with reluctance that he spared the second it took to reply. By his count, it had been over an hour since the attack on the city began. If Konoha High had indeed been one of the first locations targeted, Naruto could already be too late.

These soldiers had made it all too evident they were here to kill everyone and anyone. It didn't matter that the students of Konoha High were just teenagers. Everyone was a target, and Shinobi would be on top of the soldiers' list of people to eliminate if this indeed was a coordinated military strike.

_Every second counts, _the Kyubi reminded him.

"I'm going to rescue Sakura," Naruto said.

* * *

Konoha's defense headquarters had been one of the first locations targeted by the village's attackers, and the once elaborate, heavily fortified building showed telltale signs of the fighting that had occurred. Its walls were pockmarked with bullet holes, and more than a few windows were missing with only cragged metal and shattered glass framing gaping holes in the building's exterior.

The air was still thick with the stench of gunpowder and explosions, and Tsunade could not help but notice the splotches of red stained the pavement and the grass leading to their headquarters.

She, Shizune, and her ANBU escorts had just passed through the ruined remains of the building's once thick, outer walls where a team of heavily armed soldiers had waved her through.

They had been hit hard during the first minutes of the attack, one of the sentries, a wounded grunt with a bloody bandage obscuring half of his face, had told her. The attacking commandos had known exactly where to target first, and it was only by sheer luck that an extra platoon of Konoha militia had been close enough nearby to help repel the assault.

If the extra soldiers hadn't been there to assist, Tsunade grimly realized there was a good chance their headquarters would have just been a pile of smoldering rubble like many of the other buildings that she had passed on her way there.

Inside the headquarters was almost as chaotic as the infectious pandemonium that was currently sweeping through Konoha. Scores of uniformed soldiers were scrambling around a series of computer terminals and monitors, furiously shouting on their phones and walkie-talkies and scribbling down new reports as they came in streaming in.

"Alpha platoon has engaged the enemy in sector Charlie Two-Zero, lieutenant!" yelled one soldier. "They report five, all heavily armed."

"Foxtrot squad has taken severe casualties!" shouted another. "Two killed, three wounded. They need a med-evac, right away!"

One, dusty blonde haired soldier sitting in front of a row of computers seemed to be in the middle of all the chaos. He did not look up from what he doing as the Hokage approached. He was busy reading information and then relaying it to his comrades.

"Tell Alpha they're just going to have to make do," said the man. "And tell Delta to break away from their assigned sector and relieve Foxtrot. If Foxtrot folds we lose that entire sector and we can't allow that!"

The soldier in charge looked far too young to be in charge of this madness. In fact, judging from the markings on his uniform, he was only a second lieutenant.

"What's our status, lieutenant?" Tsunade asked, approaching the soldier from behind.

At the sound of Tsunade's voice, the young soldier yelped and almost toppled out of his chair. He spun around and immediately jumped to his feet and saluted her crisply.

"At ease, lieutenant…."

"Okane, ma'am," answered the lieutenant, his once cool composure visibly shaken. "Second lieutenant."

"What happened to Captain Yushin?" Tsunade demanded. "Wasn't he in charge of the town's non-Shinobi defenses? Where the hell is he and staff?"

Okane nodded. "He was, Hokage. But, on the way here, his convoy was ambushed and…"

"And what?" Tsunade shouted.

The young lieutenant swallowed nervously. "A suicide bomber destroyed his vehicle. Him and his staff are dead, Hokage."

"And who are you exactly?"

"I'm one of the Captain's aids." Okane answered. "I was transferred in last month and was accidentally assigned to this building."

"And you're the only one who knows anything about the village's defenses?"

Okane nodded. "Unfortunately, ma'm, I do believe so. I've reviewed the plans, at least."

The Hokage tried her best not to swear. She couldn't show any signs of weakness in front of her subordinates. All that would accomplish would be to weaken their already fragile morale.

Still, judging from the information that the monitors were displaying, the situation was a lot worst than Tsunade had predicted.

Right now, a little under half of the village was either controlled by the invaders or being assaulted. A large portion of their civilian defenses were either under siege or wiped out, and the village's law enforcement units were under heavy fire as well.

The villager's attackers had managed to cripple Konoha's defenses by taking out the team responsible for coordinating it, and it was only by chance that Lieutenant Okane had not only survived, but had the guts to step up and take over control. Had he not, Tsunade was positive that things could have been even worst.

"Lieutenant, don't you think you should return to work defending the city?" Tsunade asked.

"B-but, Hokage," protested Okane. "I-I'm not an appropriate rank nor do I have the security clearance to take control of-"

Tsunade shot him a death glare that instantly silenced the young lieutenant. "You do now." She said grimly.

Okane smiled nervously and quickly sat back down. Within moments, he was yelling out orders, orders that would hopefully save lives and bring this chaos to an end.

No one knew how much damage had been done or how many innocent civilians had died as a result of this cowardly, surprise attack, but Tsunade knew the bloodshed was far from over.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Surprise! Finally got around to writing up a new chapter! Sorry again for the long delay (though I'm sure some of you have gotten used to it by now –again, my apologies!) but work has been hectic. Finding time (and the energy and creativity) to write new material isn't easy to come by, hence the story's lengthy delays.

That said, I hope you guys are still enjoying reading! I still love writing the fic, but half the fun is knowing that other people are genuinely interested in where the story goes.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, be sure to drop them in the review box. Or, even if you don't, a quick sentence letting me know that you're reading is always encouraging too.


	64. Chapter 64

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-Four: Academy March**

It wasn't until Naruto stepped outside and traveled a few blocks away from Saskura's home did the full gravity of Konoha's nightmarish predicament fully sink in. He knew that the village was under attack, and he had heard on the news that civilians were being slaughtered indiscriminately, but nothing could have prepared the young Shinobi for the horrors he encountered once he moved deeper into the heart of the city.

Naruto had spent his entire life in this part of the village, running back and forth between his home, the city's market district and school, but Konoha looked nothing like the village he so fondly remembered. The burnt husks of demolished cars were overturned in the middle of the roads, and every other building Naruto passed had either been set ablaze or severely damaged from the explosions that had been rocking the city for the past hour.

Merchant stalls were lying on their sides, their goods scattered across the cragged, crater-torn streets. Even one of the local temples had not been spared the savagery of Konoha's invaders. The ancient house of worship that Naruto remembered visiting as a child was ablaze, a raging fire devouring its antique wooden beams with a ravenous gusto that sent ash and embers pouring into the night sky.

There were the bodies of two monks in their bloodstained saffron robes sprawled out in front of the temple. A small river of crimson ran from beneath their unmoving forms, dripping down the temple's mason steps to stain the scorched snow.

_Animals…_Naruto thought as he raced past, his teeth clenching into a hideous snarl.

The dead monks were hardly the first bodies that Naruto stumbled past. The dead were littered on the roads or their bullet riddled corpses hung halfway out of windows. Men, women, and children –the news report hadn't been lying. Anyone who had been too slow to find shelter or had been unlucky enough to be rooted out by the commandos had been murdered.

Or executed, the young Shinobi realized. An old man was slouched over the hood of a car, a massive bullet wound visible on the back of his head. His hands were bound behind his back.

As he made his way down the same roads and pathways he had traveled a hundred times before to get to Konoha High, Naruto kept looking for signs of Konoha's military forces. At any minute he expected a wave of tanks or Shinobi to rush to his aid, but with every burnt down house or mutilated body he passed on the streets, he began to realize that he was very much alone.

Konoha was a big village. No doubt Tsunade and the village council were utilizing all of the military and police lock the city down and contain the situation before it managed to further escalate. No one could be spared to help the civilian population until the village as a whole was secured, and until then, they were on their own.

The realization that it was just him, a young, inexperienced Shinobi, against an army of trained soldiers with guns worried Naruto slightly, but it didn't dissuade him from achieving his objective.

_I've overcome harder obstacles than this, _Naruto told himself. Then again, a doubting voice in his mind reminded him. All the challenges he had surmounted had always been with the aid of his friends like Sakura, Hinata or even Sasuke.

He had no one to rely on this time, but that changed nothing. All it meant was that he would have to be a little more careful.

Naruto ducked behind a crashed car that had crashed into a nearby tree. There was a dead man sprawled out in the driver's seat. His seat belt was still on, and, judging from the car's shattered windshield, the invaders must have shot the poor man before the car came to a swerving halt.

Slowly, Naruto peered over the top of the automobile, but then dropped back down with a muttered curse. He had been fortunate enough so far to avoid the squads of enemy soldiers patrolling the village and killing everyone in sight, but, evidently, his luck had finally ran out.

The only way to the school was a path at the end of the street that lead east from where Naruto was. That path, however, was currently occupied by three, masked commandos wearing flak vests and armed with assault rifles. They were faced away from Naruto, but there weren't very many places he could hide if he wanted to sneak up on the soldiers.

Naruto swore again underneath his breath. If worst came to worst, he was looking at a good quarter mile sprint without very much cover before he could get within striking range of the soldiers. If he could get close enough, Naruto knew he could easily dispatch them like he did the commandos at Sakura's home, but the trick was not getting gunned down before then.

The young Shinobi took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. The cold, winter wind hurt his throat, and he forced himself to temporarily ignore the discomfort of the biting night chill.

He could do this. He could cover the distance in less than ten seconds, and if one of the soldiers was some kind of expert sniper, he was confident the Kyubi's regenerative powers could absorb one or two bullets.

Still, Naruto had no desire to push his or the Kyubi's abilities. There was a lot about his supernatural healing powers that still eluded him. Naruto had never been shot before, and he could only hope that the demon fox was up to the challenge.

Naruto was prepared to sneak out from behind the car when the soldiers began boisterously gloating about something.

"Hey captain!" shouted one of the soldiers who was peering down at something on the ground. "We got a Shinobi! He's trapped underneath that debris. "

"What makes you say that, corporal?" responded another of the commandos.

"Look at his eyes! They're all jacked up!"

"Ha, you're right. But why is he wearing a tuxedo?" laughed the captain, poking his rifle into a pile of rubble that had fallen on the side of the street. "Are you going to a party or something, pretty boy?"

Naruto's body tensed up as he listened to the soldiers mock the Shinobi. If the ninja was wearing a tuxedo, they had to be a student from Konoha High. No doubt they had gotten caught in the cross fire when some falling debris from the buildings had trapped them.

"I bet he was going to that fancy dance," said the first soldier.

"Well, he's going somewhere, alright," remarked captain. "Going straight to hell that is. Shoot that poor bastard, corporal."

Even from his hiding place several yards away, Naruto had no trouble hearing the ominous click of a weapon being readied. It was then that decided to abandon any pretense of stealth and selected instead to opt for his far more dangerous and poorly devised worst case scenario. With a demented, piercing howl, Naruto vaulted over the car and began running towards the soldiers.

At first, the soldiers probably weren't sure of what they were seeing. They looked up at Naruto, undoubtedly momentarily perplexed. After all, who was stupid enough to take a wild, running charge at a group of men with guns? Their puzzlement quickly faded, though, and the three men lifted their rifles and opened fire at Naruto.

Naruto had timed the run at ten seconds, and while his estimate wasn't far from off, it seemed a lot longer than that while bullets were zooming past his face, missing only by inches. Round after round of lethal lead either flew by his racing form or smashed into the pavement around his feet, but Naruto didn't slow down or try to evade the hailstorm of bullets.

He almost managed to close the distance when one of the soldiers finally got lucky and shot him twice in the chest. Naruto grunted as he felt the bullets rip through flesh and bone and then exit out through his back, but that was it. Most of the damage a bullet was supposed to do was internal. The soldier's shots should have punctured his lung and a plethora of major vessels, causing Naruto collapse and slowly choke to death on his own blood.

Only, the instant the damage was done, Naruto could feel his body regenerating to repair it. He stumbled back a few steps from the force of the blow, but when he regained his footing, there was a huge smile on his face.

For a moment, the three soldiers stared at Naruto, a sort of incredulous horror in their eyes. Their weapons lowered slightly as shock and disbelief gripped them. No doubt they had been briefed about what the Shinobi were capable of, but they certainly could not be prepared for this.

Naruto hadn't at any rate.

"Sorry guys," smirked Naruto. "Can't kill me that way."

The enemy commandos tried to bring their rifles to bear again, but Naruto was not prepared to find out if the Kyubi could handle getting shot again. He lunged at the group of soldiers, and a few moments later, three broken bodies fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Fancy seeing you here, Naruto," a voice from beneath the rubble said. "Mind giving me a hand?"

The Shinobi that Naruto had rescued was Hyuga Neji.

His pale skin was covered in dried blood from a cut on his head and his expensive suit was tattered and torn.

"I was on the way to the dance," Neji said after Naruto had helped him shift the debris and pull him to his feet. "Something hit me and then I blacked out."

"Thanks," the Hyuga Shinobi grunted, wincing slightly in pain. He walked, Naruto noticed, with a visible limp that suggested that his leg might be sprained or even broken. "Guess I owe you one, huh?"

Naruto ignored him. While he was glad he had been able to save Neji's life, rescuing him from the soldiers had further delayed him from getting to Sakura and Hinata. "I'm heading to the school. Think you can keep up on that leg?"

"Yeah don't worry," Neji grunted. Despite his reassurance, however, the way he cringed with every step clearly indicated that he wasn't. In addition to his bad leg, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if Neji had suffered a few broken ribs as well.

Still, if the Hyuga clan Shinobi said he could move, then Naruto wasn't about to question him. He would need all the help he could get if they ran into any more enemy patrols.

"So," Naruto whispered as cautiously made their way closer to the school. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Neji snorted. "Well, people are shooting at us and I almost got blown up back there. What the hell do you think is going on, genius?"

They came to a halt behind a garbage dumpster that was tucked away on the side of the road. Naruto could make out the gates of Konoha High in the distance, but the two Shinobi were still too far away to make out was going on up ahead. Naruto couldn't see any soldiers, but for all he knew they were already inside and the school was under their control.

"Do you have any strategies or plans or whatever to get us inside undetected?" Naruto asked.

"Of course not!" snapped Neji. "In case you haven't noticed I've been a little busy recently."

"A little busy being trapped underneath some rocks until I saved your ungrateful butt," retorted Naruto. "I figured you might have had some free time to do some thinking, but maybe your head is as thick as those rocks you were buried underneath!"

Neji scowled darkly at him for a moment, but his expression suddenly softened. "I was wrong," he said, his voice uncharacteristically soft and apologetic. "You did save me and I am grateful. This-"

He looked away, his pale eyes gazing out towards where Konoha High waited for them. "This was the first time I thought I was actually going to die. I guess it shook me up a little bit."

Naruto bit his lip, trying to think of something to say that might comfort Neji. Nothing came readily to mind. Like Sasuke, Neji was one of those kinds of guys who seemed impervious to anything, including emotions. To see the mighty and infallible Hyuga Neji so rattled was more unsettling than Naruto cared to admit.

This was bad. Naruto had been counting on Neji's cool, calculating mind to come up with some kind of genius plan to bail them all out of this hellish situation. However, not only was Neji no shape to fight, but his head was a mess as well. It looked like all the thinking was now up to him.

"It's fine," Naruto responded, the caustic edge in his voice now subdued. "You're too hurt to be sneaking around anyway, so just wait here while I go look around."

Neji tried to get back to his feet to protest being left behind, but a sudden surge of pain in his leg dropped the young Shinobi back to the ground. "Be careful."

Naruto nodded and was preparing to step back out into the snowy streets when a sudden beeping diverted his attention. At first he barely noticed the faint noise, but as it persisted for several more minutes, he began to search wildly for its source.

"Do you have a phone?" Neji asked.

"Oh shit, yeah," Naruto said. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. In his haste, he had completely forgotten that he had it with him.

"Who is it?"

Naruto licked his lips anxiously, his eyes locked on the cell phone's display that listed the caller's name in ghostly green letters. "It's Sakura," he said.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Another chapter! Sorry again for the delays, but I'm sure you guys are used to them now!

Thanks for reading and reviewing –it's always very appreciated to know that people are sticking with the story despite all the set backs and delays in between chapters. But don't worry –we're fast approaching the end. I estimate there are no more than ten chapters left, which, hopefully, will be complete sooner rather than later.


	65. Chapter 65

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-Five: The Trio of Sunagakure**

The first thing Hinata realized when she finally regained conscious was the fact that she was in fact still alive –a pleasant surprise, suffice to say. When she and Kiba had first noticed the gas silently poisoning the ball room full of students, she recalled thinking that this was the end of her tragically truncated life.

Despite all the hardships she had overcome and all the adversities she had worked her way through, Hyuga Hinata, the heir to one of Konoha's most prestigious and powerful Shinobi clans, was going to die during a high school dance at the hands of some unforeseen saboteur.

At the time, delirious and only semi-conscious from the gas, Hinata had felt a fleeting moment of disappointment. Disappointment that she had once again failed her father and her family, and disappointment that would never get to see Naruto and say goodbye.

At the same time, she took solace in the knowledge that Naruto was safe, and that, at the very least, she would die a painless death amongst friends. A morbid sentiment, perhaps, but it was the most optimistic one she could salvage at the time.

When Hinata opened her eyes and figured out that the cold, hard floor of Konoha High's gymnasium was hardly the warm embrace of heaven she had hoped was waiting for her, she experienced a confused moment of relief tinged with sadness.

She was glad she and most her friends were still alive. However, judging from the uncomfortably tight handcuffs that secured her hands behind her back, the people that attacked the school were still very much in control. For all she knew they were just waiting to kill them later, and that meant Hinata would have more time to worry about her impending death.

Hinata's feet were also shackled together, and all she could do was slowly roll over. Kiba was lying beside her and, like all the other students Hinata could see, were handcuffed.

"Hey, Kiba," Hinata whispered. She tried to nudge him, but her friend was still unconscious. Fortunately, he was still breathing steadily.

Some of the other students had not been so lucky. A few, Hinata noticed, had gone deathly pale and were unmoving. Some others were lying sprawled out on the ground, unbound and surrounded in a pool of their own blood.

Hinata moaned softly when she spotted Tenten. The brazen young Shinobi's body was propped up against the wall on the other side of the gym, and Hinata couldn't tell if she was breathing or not. There were splashes of crimson all over her silk, and her head was resting motionlessly against her chest, eyes closed.

The young Hyuga heiress rolled back around, frantically searching for anyone who might help. The only person still in the gymnasium who wasn't unconscious, though, was a man clad in a decorative, black robe. He was sitting in the middle of the gymnasium, surrounded by small boxes and tools.

"Hello?" Hinata called out.

She realized it probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world to draw attention to herself, but some of the students needed medical attention quickly. It was a long shot, but maybe this man would be willing to show them some mercy and allow the wounded to be evacuated. "Hello, can you hear me?"

The man looked up from what he was doing and with a broad grin walked over to Hinata. "Ah, someone is finally awake," he said as he squatted down beside her. "Just in time, yeah?"

Hinata's eyes widened and she felt her heart sink deep into her chest. A cold wave of fear washed over her, and whatever temporary relief she had felt earlier was replaced with dread. She recognized the man's voice.

It was the insane terrorist bomber that she and Naruto had fought in the sewers.

"Was hoping I'd see you again," the man said. "And I'm glad you recognized my voice. I realize we've never been formally introduced, yeah?"

When Hinata had last seen the terrorist he had been wearing a black mask. He was still wearing a mask now, but it was made of layers of intertwining bandages that obscured most of his face from view. There were also bandages covering his hands and part of his neck, partially disguising swathes of hideously mutilated skin.

"My name is Deidara," he said with a bow and an ostentatious twirl of his robes. "Explosive expert extraordinaire."

"What do you want with us?" Hinata demanded through gritted teeth. She wasn't even going to bother begging for mercy. She knew he wouldn't give them anyway. He had threatened to murder Sakura and had assaulted Naruto. There was no way he was going to let any of them walk out of here alive.

"Why didn't you just kill us with that gas?" she added. "Why? Are you just toying with us? Holding us for ransom?"

The terrorist known as Deidara touched the corner of his mouth thoughtfully. "That's a good question, yeah? See, that poison gas was supposed to kill you. Most painfully."

He shrugged his shoulders and started walking back to the crates. "I guess someone slipped up and mixed the wrong chemicals, yeah?"

Hinata suddenly felt nauseous and had to resist the urge to throw up. The only reason why she and everyone else in the room were still breathing was because someone made a mistake making the poison.

Deidara chuckled to himself. "Not that it matters of course. In fact, this is an unexpected windfall for me."

He pointed at the crates in the center of the gym. "I'm was supposed to build a bomb to destroy this school, you see. But won't it be so much more spectacular if there are people alive inside to actually see it blow first hand, yeah?"

"You're so lucky," he said, cackling as if appreciating some particular bit of irony that had escaped Hinata. "Few people get to experience the pristine and beautiful art of bomb making up close and personal. In fact, I guess you'll be able to safely say it was a 'blast', yeah?"

"You think you're going to get away with this?" Hinata shouted. "We might die here, but you'll have every Shinobi from Konoha after you. You'll be dead within a week, I promise you that."

Deidara smiled slyly in response. "My dear, if things have gone according to plan, Konoha won't even exist within a week."

He turned back to his work, allowing the ominous portent of his words to sink in with Hinata.

Was the madman telling the truth? Was this attack on Konoha High not an isolated incident, but a part of a much bigger scheme?

In truth, it made sense from a strategic standpoint. If Hinata was planning to invade and destroy a nation of Shinobi, wiping out the next generation of soldiers was a sound plan. It was just unfortunate that Hinata and her friends were the next generation of Shinobi about to perish.

"There! Complete!" Deidara exclaimed triumphantly, removing a round, clay object from one of the crates.

He placed it on the floor, and circled around it, carefully studying every angle of the object. He looked like an artist appraising his latest masterpiece. In his deranged mind that was probably exactly what he thought the bomb was. Art.

Beaming and giggly like a giddy school girl, Deidara skipped back over to Hinata. He kneeled down next to the bound Hyuga heiress and roughly pinched her cheeks.

"I would say this won't hurt a bit and it will be over quick," Deidara told her. "But that wouldn't be fun, yeah? See, I filled the bomb with nails and a nasty toxin that will cause you to bleed internally for hours until your lungs collapse."

"Can you promise me," the terrorist said, "that if medics find you before you choke on your own vomit you'll tell them Deidara did this? That's Deidara, yeah. I can spell it out for you if you want."

Hinata glared venomously at him and viciously spat in his face. "Go fuck yourself you disgusting piece of shit."

Deidara calmly wiped Hinata's saliva from his face with the sleeve of his robes. He was still laughing, a huge smile on his face. "It's been fun. Die slowly thinking of me, yeah?"

He rose and started heading towards the exit of the gymnasium, but the abrupt sound of gunfire outside made him stop. A chorus of gunshots rang out from the other side of the dance hall's heavy double doors, and then someone started shouting.

"Someone kill them!" shouted a panicked voice. "Shoot! Shoot!"

"There's only two of them! Kill them!"

The raucous chatter of machine gun fire echoed in the now quiet gymnasium hall for a few more moments, but then it suddenly stopped. There were a few more shouts of surprise, a grunt of pain, a shriek of terror, and then the gym doors shuddered violently as something smashed into them repeatedly.

And then there was silence.

"Captain?" Deidara called out. He was no longer smiling, no longer as buoyant and cheerful as he had been just a second ago. "Is everything alright out there?"

An explosive gust of air ripped the gym's double doors off their hinges and sent them smashing into the wall on the other side of the hall. Two teenage boys wearing expensive tuxedos calmly walked through the wrecked door frame and into the gym, completely nonplussed by the sight of dozens of unconscious bodies lying sprawled on the ground.

Hinata could only gawk at them in wordless amazement. She hadn't seen either of them before, but there was something about the two that seemed vaguely familiar to her.

One was taller than the other and looked a little older. He had tawny brown hair and his face was covered in a mask of elaborate tattoos. The other looked more Hinata's age. His short, spiky hair was blood crimson, and his skin was as pale as the falling snow outside.

The younger of the two boys looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept in ages. There were dark shadows underneath his eyes that didn't belong on a boy as young as he.

"You!" Deidara exclaimed, stabbing a finger at the smaller teenager. "What are you doing here?"

"We came here to dance and have some good food," replied the older, brown-haired boy. "Maybe meet some Konoha girls and make an evening of it. Seems like you and your buddies kind of ruined that for us though."

"Your men are all dead outside by the way," added the red-haired teenager softly. "They didn't want to surrender so I killed them. I hope they weren't important to you because…well, yeah, they're dead."

He made that pronouncement so calmly, so matter-of-factly that it sent a chill down Hinata's spine. The two teenagers had just killed men, and they talked about as if they were discussing their plans for the evening. It was only then that Hinata noticed that there were splotches of blood discoloring their tuxedos.

Deidara was nervous and was making no effort to disguise his fear. Hinata could see the terror all over his face, and she couldn't help but wonder what about the two boys possibly could incite such fear in a battle hardened Shinobi.

He glanced around the gymnasium frantically, searching for an escape. He licked his lips anxiously. "Well, if that's the case then—"

Deidara broke off his midsentence and stabbed a hand into his robes. He removed a fistful of small clay pots, whirled around, and with a shrill battle cry, he hurled them towards the two boys.

"Look out!" Hinata screamed.

Her warning, however, was unnecessary.

The pale skinned teenager made a small gesture with his hand and instantly a slab of sand erupted from the ground. The gymnasium's wood paneled floor buckled and shattered as the earth surged upwards, condensing to form a supernatural barrier that surrounded the two boys.

The clay ornaments smashed into the boy's conjured shield and detonated in a roaring flash of fire. A wave of heat washed across Hinata's face as she flinched away from the explosion, and the school's foundations shuddered as a chorus of resonating _booms _echoed throughout its great halls.

A cloud of smoke from the blast had formed where the two teenagers had been standing, obscuring them from sight as the last of the explosion's flames faded out of existence.

When the smoke finally dissipated, Deidara was smiling. The barrier that had been protecting the two teenagers had been charred to a crisp. Layers of blackened sand and heated glass chipped away from the shield and cascaded to the ground, crumbling and away into dust. Piece by piece the wall fell away.

No one could have survived an explosion like that.

"No…" Hinata whispered.

The faint flicker of hope that she had dared to hold on to when she saw the two Shinobi appear was waning. A sickening, nauseous feeling was rising up in her throat, and the familiar urge to vomit returned. For a brief moment she had allowed herself to believe that Konoha's saviors had arrived, but her hope was gone now, destroyed in the blistering hot flames of Deidara's explosives.

She shut her eyes, fighting back the hot, stinging tears of disappointment that filled them. It was so unfair.

"Are you alright, Gaarra?" a voice asked.

Hinata's eyes snapped open in surprise. The voice was muffled, but it was distinctly coming from the other side of the crumbling, charred wall of sand.

"Of course I'm fine. Get off of me, Kankuro" the other voice said. "Honestly, do you really think I need you jumping on me to protect me?"

"You're the future Kazekage! Do you know who pissed sis would be if I let anything happen to you?"

The last traces of the massive earth wall finally crumbled away and on the other side, covered in sand and dust but otherwise entirely unscathed, were the two Shinobi.

The more ornate of the two was scowling, but the red-haired teenager looked more bored than anything. It was as if almost being blown up meant absolutely nothing to either of them.

"Seriously, Deidara?" the one called Gaara asked, brushing sand from his tuxedo. "That's the best you can do?"

When it came to escaping from a dangerous situation, a Shinobi had two options. The first was they could rely on their skill and combat prowess to fight their way out of their predicament. The alternative, though less honorable and certainly not as courageous, was to turn tail and run the hell away and hope that the enemy had better things to do than pursue you.

Deidara had tried the first option and had failed. It only made sense that he try the second next. After all, Deidara might have been an utter failure of a Shinobi, but he wasn't completely retarded.

The moment the renegade ninja noticed that the two teenagers had survived his sneak attack; he turned and sprinted towards the gym's emergency exit. To Hinata's surprise, the two boys made no move to stop him. A second later, just as abruptly as he had made his appearance, Deidara was gone, vanished in the falling snow outside.

"You let him get away?" exclaimed Hinata incredulously.

Garra ignored her angry protests and instead walked over to the myriad crates that Deidara had left behind. Slowly, he opened each of them and began rummaging around with their contents, methodically extracting a piece here and there and tossing them to the side. Hinata watched him in silence. In all the excitement she had forgotten that they were literally sitting next to a ticking time bomb that could explode at any minute and kill everyone in the building.

"How's it look, Gaara?" the brown-haired teenager asked.

Gaara gently closed the box he was working on and walked over towards his comrade. In his hands was a small metal device. "It's a dud."

"Come again?"

"That's the detonator," said Garra. He tossed Kankuro the remote. "That bomb Deidara built is powerful enough to level a city block but it's rigged to a detonator that's completely useless."

"What does that mean?" Kankuro asked.

Garra shrugged and kneeled down beside Hinata and began helping her with her bindings.

"Beats me."

* * *

Author's Notes  
School has started once again and work is hectic as always. Thanks for your patience and understanding! Next chapter is going to be a HUGE one (in terms of awesomeness, not necessarily length) so be sure to tune in! Hint: someone finally dies. Or do they? Suspense! Be sure to drop a quick comment if you liked (or hated) what you just read.


	66. Chapter 66

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-Six: Fight or Flight**

"Sasuke," Sakura gasped, her lungs screaming as she gulps down mouthfuls of icy cold air.

A chilling breeze whipped through her disheveled pink air, and, despite the agonizing burn that emanated through her weary muscles, she was beginning to realize what a terrible idea it had been to venture into the cold wearing only a thin dress. As she ran behind Sasuke, she wrapped her arms around her shivering body and wished she had been smart enough to grab her jacket before rushing outside.

"I need to rest!" Sakura yelled, hoping that Sasuke would hear her over the howling wind.

Sasuke turned around and scowled. "What?" he demanded irritably.

"My legs are cramping up. I need a minute to catch my breath," Sakura pleaded.

The Uchiha clan Shinobi's scowl darkened as he carefully scanned their surroundings for anyone who might have followed them. For a moment, Sakura thought he was going to tell her to keep moving, but he finally nodded reluctantly.

"Just a minute," he snapped. "We need to hurry."

With a grateful sigh, Sakura collapsed wearily into the snow.

Sakura's high heels had long since been abandoned, tossed carelessly away once it became evident how inappropriate the cumbersome footwear was for running. Her unprotected feet, however, had paid the price. They were sore, covered in cuts and discoloring bruises, and they were beginning to turn blue from the cold snow. She hissed painfully as she used her hands to massage warmth back into her feet, hoping that at the very least she might be able to stave off frostbite.

The brief respite also gave Sakura a chance to try and process the whirlwind of events that had just taken place. She and Sasuke had been so busy running that she had difficult remembering anything. How long had it been since they had witnessed the first explosions that rocked Konoha? Ten minutes? An hour?

It seemed like it had been only seconds ago that she saw a pillar of flames blossom over the rooftops of the village, but the raw exhaustion that wracked her tired body made it feel like she had been running for hours.

"You ready?" Sasuke asked, the impatient edge in his voice all too evident.

"Give me one more minute," Sakura pleaded.

How long had it been since the two of them were cuddling outside of the high school, bathed in the romantic light of the full moon? She had been surrounded by his strong arms, her mind ready to explode with euphoric bliss from the light kisses Sasuke surreptitiously planted on her neck.

And then the screeching wail of the city's sirens had shattered their brief, perfect moment. They had turned around, ready to race back through the school's main entrance, but then the distorted cacophony of gunfire and terrified screams began to echo from within Konoha High's hallways.

A young girl that Sakura did not know had run towards them, a wordless cry of help on her scared lips. She hadn't made it. A masked man with a gun had stepped out of the hallway behind her, aimed and shot her in the back.

The girl had stumbled and tripped down the school's front steps, her beautiful, blood stained gown fluttering in the wind. Her face was contorted with agony and there were tears streaming from her eyes.

She hadn't died immediately. A trail of blood staining the cobblestone steps and spilling onto the snow, she had dragged herself a few more feet before the soldier stood over her and fired one more bullet into her quivering form.

Sakura had wanted to run to the girl's aid, but just as she was about to lunge at the soldier and smash her fist into his face, Sasuke had grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

"Run!" Sasuke had shouted, tugging her arm behind him. "We need to get out of here!"

She hadn't resisted him and allowed herself to be dragged back out of the school grounds, away from the poor, dead girl. A bullet whizzed past her head, smashing into the gates of Konoha High in a spray of sparks. Together, the two Shinobi had dashed into the dense forest surrounding the school, fleeing like refugees in the night.

It had to have been a little over an hour since then, an hour of non-stop running through the trees with only a few brief pauses to ensure that no one was following their trail. Sakura thought she knew the woods of Konoha well, but Sasuke had led her so deep into the forest that she had long any sense of where they were going. The naked, snow covered trees looked the same, but Sasuke seemed to know where he was taking them.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked as she shakily rose to her feet.

"You'll see," Sasuke said. It was the first thing that he had said in quite a while. Sakura just looked at him, surprised. His voice was hard and angry, and there was no mistaking the restlessness in his eyes. Sasuke seemed like a completely different person than the suave, charming gentleman he had been only hours before.

They continued trudging through the snow in silence for another few moments. Finally, just as Sakura was afraid her feet would literally fall off from frost bite, Sasuke motioned for her to stop.

"We're here," he announced.

Where _here _was Sakura recognized almost immediately. They had entered into a large clearing that looked as though no one had traveled through it in months. The snow on the ground was untouched, glistening with ominous beauty beneath the moonlight. There was a very good reason why no one had been through this part of the forest recently. It was the same reason why an enormous, chain link fence was erected around the edges of the clearing, blocking off anyone from venturing further into the woods.

"The Forest of Death," Sakura whispered. "We're not actually going in are we?"

The Forest of Death was aptly named for its infamous reputation for claiming the lives of foolish Shinobi and villagers who entered it unprepared. Sakura had never dared to try in sneak in and see if the myths and legends were true, but according to rumors, it was teeming with all manners of monstrous beasts and giant, man-eating insects.

A huge sign staked in front of the locked gates read in big bold letters, "Danger: Do Not Enter."

Sakura could only imagine it had been put there for a good reason.

"No, not unless we have to," said Sasuke. "If the invasion is any as serious as I think it is, we can always try and lose them in the forest."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Invasion?" she asked. "You think this is an invasion?"

"What else could it be?" Sasuke replied. "Bombs, machine gun fire, soldiers? You heard how the Hokage pissed off those ambassadors from the Hidden Village of Rock and Cloud a while back? This must be retaliation."

"S-so this is war?" Sakura asked nervously, dreading the answer. "We're at war?"

Sasuke nodded. "I think so."

Sakura stared at Sasuke. He was smiling, as if the idea of war excited him. In a sick, disturbing way, she supposed it should also excite her as well. She had trained her entire life to become a Shinobi, an instrument of violence and death. However, Sakura had envisioned her role as ninja as being a guardian and a healer, not a soldier who consciously brought death and pain to the homes of her enemies.

Her arms were trembling and she could feel tears springing to life in her eyes.

So this was the face of war --the explosions tearing apart the homes of innocent civilians, the young girl lying dead in the snow and the soldier who had mercilessly executed her. There was nothing glamorous or wonderful about it. It was ugly and cruel.

How could Sasuke be excited by this? How could anyone justify this barbarism?

"We need to find some help," Sasuke said suddenly. "If anyone manages to track us, we could probably use some backup."

"B-but, Sasuke," Sakura replied. "Who? E-everyone was in the school and…"

Her voice trailed off, letting the silence finish her sentence. There was no one left to help them. All the adults were no doubt fighting to save the village, and all her classmates were...

She shook her head and tried to fight back the tears she felt welling up in her eyes. Sakura couldn't bear the thought that all her friends were dead like that girl she had seen shot dead. They couldn't be. Shinobi like Ino and Tenten were skilled fighters –surely a group of normal soldiers with guns weren't a match for them, right?

"Sakura! Focus!" Sasuke snapped. "Not everyone was inside the school when the attack started. I didn't see Neji and—"

"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. "He's still at my house!"

Sasuke grinned. "Perfect. You still have your cell phone, right? Call him and tell him to meet us here."

The pink haired Shinobi returned Sasuke's smile and actually felt a surge of hope for the first time in hours. There were few Shinobi that Sakura trusted more than Naruto, and she was positive he had already managed to get him and her family to safety. Naruto was resourceful and smart, and Sakura was confident that he wouldn't hesitate for a moment to come help them out.

She frantically dug into her dress pocket for her phone and quickly located Naruto's number. After a few moments of tense ringing, Naruto's voice came to life on the other end.

The conversation was brief. Naruto told her what had happened at the house, and Sakura informed him where they were. He was with Neji, he said, sitting outside the school. It would take them a little while to travel through the forest, but Naruto promised they were on their way.

"I'll always be here for you, Sakura," Naruto said. "Believe it."

And with those final words, the phone went dead.

* * *

Author's Note:

Sorry again about the massive delay. I decided to cut this chapter in half so I could go ahead and upload something instead of making you guys wait another few weeks. As always, college life is very hectic and it's difficult to find time to sit down and write. I'm doing video game journalism now for a few different web sites, and it's keeping me super busy. Which is both a good thing and a bad thing. Good to be making money, bad because it means I rarely get time to actually play video games ironically enough.

Be sure to drop a review in the box below! Until next time, thanks for reading!


	67. Chapter 67

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-Seven: Innocence Lost**

Sasuke gave her a long, suspicious stare after Sakura hung up her phone and stowed it back away. Crossing his arms and scowling, he demanded, "What did Naruto say?"

For a second, Sakura was uncertain why Sasuke was glaring at her like she had just committed some grievous sin. And then she realized her mouth was smiling that goofy, stupid looking smile of hers that Naruto, and only Naruto, always inspired.

She quickly wiped it away and embarrassedly muttered, "He said he's coming."

"What else did he say?" Sasuke persisted.

"Nothing," Sakura lied.

Sasuke, however, did not look convinced. She returned Sasuke's dark scowl and pretended like she was confused why he was being so accusatory. "He said he was coming and that's it. What's your problem, Sasuke?"

It Sasuke looked as though he was ready to say something mean and angry. His jaw clenched uncomfortably, as if he was internally wrestling to contain some great emotional outburst that was threatening to spill forth.

Finally, he could take it no longer and he practically shouted, "What is it between you and Naruto?"

"Huh?" Sakura asked, her confusion genuine this time. "Between me and Naruto?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!" snapped Sasuke scathingly. "First you hate him, then he's staying at your house, then you're going out with him and then you're not."

Sakura resisted the urge to start laughing at how absurd Sasuke sounded. Not only was Sasuke the last person Sakura would ever suspect of being the jealous type, but he should know that this was hardly the right time to be talking about relationships. They had barely escaped with their lives from the city –they should be worrying about staying alive and not what the status of their love life was.

"Sasuke, now's not really a good time," Sakura said. She started to turn away, hoping that Sasuke would stop acting like an idiot and just drop it.

"Do you love him?" Sasuke demanded.

Maybe it was the suddenness of the question, or maybe it was the sad, pained sound in Sasuke's voice, but it caught Sakura off guard and caused her to stop and look back at Sasuke. He was still standing in front of her, his fists clenched at his side and a strange, conflicted look on his face.

"What?"

"Do you love Naruto?" Sasuke asked again. "Do you have feelings for him?"

"Sasuke, not now," Sakura said softly. "We can talk about this later."

"Why? We have nowhere to go." Sasuke waved a hand around at the empty expanses of trees and snow that stretched on into the distance. He stepped forward and his hand closed around her wrist.

Sakura tried to pull away, but Sasuke wouldn't let go. "Let go of me, Sasuke," she said angrily, gritting her teeth. Though his grip didn't hurt, his obnoxious behavior was getting on her nerves quickly. He was starting to really piss her off.

"Answer me first," Sasuke snarled. "Do you love him?"

"I'm warning you, Sasuke, let me go!" yelled Sakura, trying again unsuccessfully free herself from Sasuke's hold.

"Not until you tell me the truth."

Sakura rolled her eyes and exploded into action. She stamped her foot down on Sasuke's knee, causing it to buckle, and then smashed her forehead into the bridge of his nose. Sasuke barely had time to groan in pain before he crumbled into the snow, grabbing his nose as blood seeped through his fingers.

"I told you to let me go," whispered Sakura, rubbing her forehead gingerly and glaring murderously at Sasuke.

The young Uchiha was sitting up in the snow, tilting his head back to prevent blood from spilling all over his ruined tuxedo. Sakura sighed, kneeled down beside him and showed him how to correctly apply pressure to the wound to ebb the bleeding.

"You're going to choke on your own blood like that," Sakura said. She placed a finger against Sasuke's nose and began channeling chakra into his skin. Almost instantly, the broken bones in his nose snapped back into place and the steady stream of scarlet dripping down his shirt stopped.

"Thanks," Sasuke muttered. "You know this is the second time you've fixed my nose, right?"

"Shut it," Sakura replied. "I should have left your face disfigured. See how pretty you are then."

Sasuke chuckled, but even the sound of his laughter couldn't' placate Sakura's irritation towards him. He looked up at her, and for a moment, onyx met emerald as their eyes locked.

"I bet you didn't expect your evening to end this way, huh?"

Sakura wiped off traces of Sasuke's blood on her dress before sitting down beside him. The cold snow was making her butt all wet, but she didn't care. Her dress was already beyond ruined. If they somehow made it past this night, she was totally going to make Sasuke buy her a new one.

"Well, I sort of imagined we might be cuddling beneath the stars…"

Sasuke smiled and draped his arm around her, drawing her closer to him "Like this?"

She was still pissed off at him for acting like an idiot, but she couldn't deny that the firmness of his body pressing up against hers was not unpleasant in the slightest. His strong, comforting arms wrapped around her waist certainly didn't hurt either.

Sakura returned his smile and snuggled up against him. She felt her rage slowly draining away, and she allowed herself to find momentary solace in his warm embrace. "Don't think I'm still not mad at you."

"Sorry," Sasuke said. "I was being stupid."

"Wasn't very professional or ninja like," Sakura added.

"I said I was sorry."

"I don't care. If we make it out of here alive, I fully expect a better apology. And flowers. And chocolates."

The raven haired Shinobi laughed. "Deal."

Several minutes of silence past between them with only the howl of the chilling wind to remind them that they were still out in the middle of nowhere and still very much in danger. Despite that, Sakura had to admit sitting there with Sasuke by her side made her feel more at ease than she had been in hours.

Suddenly, Sasuke broke the silence. "You love, don't you?"

Sakura didn't answer him immediately, and the brief hesitation was all the confirmation Sasuke needed. "I don't know," Sakura finally confessed.

Sasuke's reaction wasn't what Sakura had expected. He didn't stand up and storm off in umbrage or start angrily shouting at her. Instead, he pulled her closer to him and whispered, "I understand."

"I'm sorry," Sakura apologized. "That's probably not what you wanted to hear."

He shook his head. "Don't be. I perfectly understand. Naruto is a great guy. A perfect one, really. "

At first, Sakura thought he was being facetious. But when Sasuke made no indication that he was joking, it dawned on her that he was being earnest. She gave him a puzzled, questioning look. The two had grown up loathing one another and had spent the better part of their teenage years constantly at one another's throats. Such praising words were the last thing Sakura thought would ever come from Sasuke's mouth about his rival and occasional nemesis.

"I thought you two hated each other," Sakura stated plainly.

"Hate?" asked Sasuke. "How could I hate someone who's exactly like me?"

Sakura was about to ask Sasuke what he meant by that, but the sudden sound of approaching footsteps from the trees in front of them made both Shinobi leap to their feet. Whoever it was drawing closer to them was making no effort to disguise their presence, stomping in the snow and speaking loudly.

"They said it was over this way, Neji!" one voice hissed.

"No, moron! It's over this way! And shut up!" retorted another.

Sakura's face lit up when she recognized the voices. They were unmistakable, especially the first one. Somewhere in the trees, stumbling slowly towards their position was Naruto and Neji.

"It's Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed. She turned towards the trees and began waving her arms. "Naruto!" she shouted. "We're over here!"

"Sakura?" Naruto yelled back. "Is that you?"

"Yeah! It's me and Sasuke! We're over here by the gates!"

"What the hell are you and that idiot doing all the way out here?"

"It's a long story!" Sakura giggled. "Just come on over here!"

Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed her, turned her around and pressed his lips firmly against hers. The abruptness and violence of his kiss took Sakura completely by surprise, and she instinctively pushed him away. Her mouth still tingling, Sakura stared at Sasuke in breathless bewilderment.

"What was that for?" Sakura asked.

"You'll see," was all Sasuke replied with a weak smile.

She gave him a weird look and turned back towards the trees. She had no idea what had come over Sasuke to make him act so strange, but they didn't have time to waste focusing on something so petty.

In the distance, she could vaguely see Naruto and Neji approaching. Neji was limping, and Naruto was supporting him as they hobbled through the trees. Both looked beaten up and battered, and Sakura could only hope the splotches of blood that stained their torn clothes belonged to someone else.

The pink haired Shinobi jumped up and down and waved at them, smiling. She was consciously aware that she looked like a complete idiot, smiling that stupid, smile reserved exclusively for Naruto, but she didn't care. She was too happy to feel self conscious or worry about what Sasuke was thinking about her at the moment.

For the first time since the sirens had sounded, Sakura felt a warm glow of hope that everything was going to work out. Between Sasuke and Neji's prodigious talent and Naruto's supernatural Kyubi powers, there wasn't anything that the four of them couldn't overcome.

They were a team. They were Shinobi. Nothing could stop them.

"Neji! Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "Over here!"

Had Sakura still been facing Sasuke, she would have seen that Sasuke was not sharing in her joy.

He was still standing off to the side, and there was a sad, pained look on his face. Nonetheless, there was no hesitation as he reached into his suit jacket and removed the handgun that he had stolen from the dead police officer earlier that week.

Quietly, he walked up behind Sakura and placed the barrel of the weapon softly against the small of her back.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura," Sasuke whispered. He closed his eyes tightly and with a shaky breath, slowly pulled the trigger.

------  
Author's Notes:  
This really should have been the second half of chapter 66. Worked hard to get it done in a timely fashion this time! Hope you guys enjoy!

As always, be sure to drop a review and let me know you're still reading! We're down to the last ten chapters or so! Thanks!


	68. Chapter 68

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter Sixty-Eight: Revenge**

For a moment, Sasuke looked straight at Naruto. His onyx eyes widened when he saw him, and a sly, sinister smirk stretched across his lips.

Then he pulled the trigger.

At first Naruto thought he heard Sakura cry out in agony as the bullet ripped through her torso, but a second later he realized that it was the sound of his own screams echoing in his ears. His teeth gnashed together and his face contorted in a mask of twisted pain and fury, he raced towards where Sakura had fallen.

By the time he dropped down by her side, Sasuke was already nowhere to be seen. The only signs of where he had run away to were his footsteps in the snow that lead to the entrance of the Forest of Death.

Naruto grabbed her head and rested it in his lap, his hands desperately searching her for face for any signs of life.

"Sakura?" he called to her, gently shaking her unmoving body. "Hey, c'mon. Answer me."

The deafening whisper of the winter wind was Naruto's only answer.

Sakura was completely unconscious, her eyes closed shut and her body entirely unresponsive to his touch. Fortunately, she was still breathing, but Naruto didn't know for how much longer. Already the rise and fall of her chest was growing more shallow and erratic.

Frantically, he began inspecting the gunshot wound to her abdomen. It looked as though the bullet had passed clearly through her stomach. It was hard to tell. Not only did Naruto know nothing about treating injuries, but there was blood everywhere. A stream of crimson spilled over her dress, covering Naruto's hands as it began to stain the pure snow beneath them.

He tried to apply pressure to the wound, but every time he touched it, another fresh torrent of blood would gush out and Sakura would groan in pain. Without any medical experience, Naruto understood he could very well do more harm than good by trying to treat Sakura by himself.

"Hey, Sakura," Naruto said, gently stroking her face.

His bloodstained fingers left streaks of red on her cheeks and hair, and tiny droplets of waters splashed on her skin. It took Naruto a moment to realize where the tears were coming from; that they were streaming uncontrollably from his eyes. "Wake up. Please."

"Naruto, what the hell happened?" Neji asked as he hobbled up beside them.

"Sasuke did this," Naruto snarled through clenched teeth.

"Sasuke? Are you sure?" Neji asked. "Are you sure it wasn't one of those soldiers?"

Naruto shook his head fiercely. "I looked at that bastard in the eye right before he pulled the trigger. It was him."

Much to Naruto's surprise, Neji did not look at all shocked by this startling revelation. Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"You know why this happened, don't you." Naruto said, his tone accusatory and angry. "You know why Sasuke shot her."

Neji nodded slowly, his eyes still fixed on Sakura as if they still couldn't quite comprehend what they were seeing. "I didn't know for sure. I have my suspicions, though."

"What are they?" Naruto demanded. He was glaring now at Neji furiously, only a fraction of a section from taking out his pain and grief on his friend.

Neji, however, met Naruto's anger with his emotionless, stoic resolve. Whatever he knew he was not at liberty to disclose with Naruto, and no amount of coercion or persuasion would change that.

Naruto didn't have time for this. He knew what he needed to do, and staying to yell and scream at Neji would only delay him further.

He closed his eyes and, squeezing out the last of his tears, whispered into Sakura's ear, "Hold on, please. For me."

He carefully lowered Sakura's unconscious form on the snow. With a deep, shaky breath, he stood up and brushed his bloody hands on his pants.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked.

Naruto dug into his pocket and threw Neji his phone. "Stay with Sakura. Get her to a hospital."

"Where are you going?"

Naruto didn't reply. He turned his gaze towards the fence that Sasuke had vaulted over.

Beyond the chain link gate was the Forest of Death, a labyrinth of trees, monsters and unspeakable evil. It was the once place that only the bravest, most skilled Shinobi ever dared to enter, but Naruto felt no fear. Not anymore.

Inside the forest was Uchiha Sasuke, and so that was where he needed to go.

As Neji looked at Naruto, an involuntary shiver ran down his spine.

The Naruto he knew, the smiling, joking, happy-go-lucky kid, had disappeared. There was a look of cold fury etched on Naruto's face, a look so angry, dangerous and ominous that even Neji was momentarily taken aback.

His cerulean eyes were vacant and dead; like someone had just sucked the boy's soul out of his body.

Neji didn't try to stop Naruto. There was only one thing left to do now. He removed a kunai that he had strapped to his leg and tossed it to Naruto.

"Get him," said Neji.

Tucking the kunai into his belt, Naruto nodded and leaped over the fence.

Without looking back, he sped past the warning signs and caution barriers and entered into the forest. Immediately, the thick canopy of trees overhead blocked out the moonlight, bathing Naruto in almost complete darkness.

But Naruto didn't care.

He charged down the path, carefully picking out Sasuke's footprints in the dirt. Sasuke hadn't even bothered to cover up his tracks. A half mile down the trail that Naruto was following he discovered the gun Sasuke had shot Sakura it was with. It was carelessly tossed aside on the ground.

Naruto stopped and removed the kunai, gripping the taped steel handle tightly. He watched the treetops carefully, waiting for any sign that Sasuke might be hiding overhead, waiting to ambush him as he passed by.

Sasuke knew Naruto wasn't an elite tracker like Kiba. If he really wanted to evade him and escape, Naruto knew Sasuke could have done it easily. The only reason why he had been able to follow Sasuke's trail so far was because of the generous amount of obvious clues that had been left behind.

Sasuke wasn't interested in running away. He wanted Naruto to find him.

A small, feral smile crossed Naruto's lips. If Sasuke wanted to be discovered, that was fine.

He was going to find Uchiha Sasuke. And then he was going to kill him.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Another short chapter, but I'm falling behind on my upload schedule. I want to try and regularly update, but at the same time, finding some decent time to write is getting more and more difficult.

Hope you guys still enjoy it though even though this chapter was a lot shorter than I had originally planned. Be sure to drop a review! Thanks!


	69. Chapter 69

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own Naruto. Oh, and don't copy this fic and repost it somewhere else on the internet without asking. Because that would just be uncool.

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter 69: The Reason Why**

"Sasuke!"

The sound of Naruto's scream echoed throughout the Forest of Death, rebounding off the high canopy's of its trees and resonating loudly in the young Shinobi's ears.

Sharp branches scratched his skin as he tore through forest's thick maze of underbrush with reckless abandon, leaving angry marks across his skin, but Naruto ignored the pain. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted, not when an adversary as deadly as Sasuke was lurking in the shadows. As clouded as his mind was with hatred and rage, his senses were as alert as ever. Just because Sasuke wanted Naruto to find him didn't mean the traitorous bastard hadn't prepared some manner of trap for him ahead of time.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted again, louder this time so the volume of his voice caused the leaves overhead to tremble.

He was not concerned about subtlety or stealth. The thought had never crossed his mind. His mind was so blinded with hatred and rage that storming through the forest, yelling challenges into the night seemed like a perfectly reasonably course of action. After all, Sasuke had no intention of running away. He was looking for a fight, and Naruto was perfectly willing to give him one.

Naruto clenched the kunai Neji had given him tightly, his eyes scanning the trees for any new signs of Sasuke. At the same time, though, he was also consciously searching for any of the forest's native inhabitants that might be trailing him. If the stories about the Forest of Death were true, everything from giant serpents to man-eating insects roamed the woods, and any student stupid or unlucky enough to encounter one unprepared would meet a quick and grisly demise.

Privately, Naruto almost wished one of them would be stupid enough to attack him. He wanted to lash out, to hurt, to maim, to kill something so badly that he could feel the barely constrained urge bubbling in his veins. Unfortunately, it was as if all the forest's monsters could feel the murderous aura radiating from the young Shinobi and had wisely decided to keep their distance.

Naruto paused for a moment, wisps of cold vapor rising from his mouth as he caught his breath. He knew Sasuke wasn't running away from him, but Naruto couldn't figure out why he was leading him so far into the forest. Already he could see a break in the trees up ahead, and slightly beyond that would be an exit leading to the opposite side of the Forest of Death from where he initially entered. It confused Naruto because he knew Sasuke seldom did anything without reason, and the uncertainty was unnerving.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled into the night again. His voice trembled, raw with emotion and anger. "Come out and fight me, you coward!"

It was only the shrill sound of chirping in the darkness that alerted Naruto to Sasuke's approach. He had heard it before, a high-pitched noise akin to the chorus of a flock of singing birds, and instantly Naruto realized what Sasuke was planning. A fraction of a second later, out of the corner of his eye he spotted a beacon of flickering blue light racing towards him. The chirping grew louder as the light drew nearer, and soon the deafening crackle and hiss of electricity tearing through the freezing, night air joined the cacophony of sound.

"Chidori!" Sasuke shouted, the fist carrying the massive surge of lightening rocketing towards Naruto's face.

Naruto leaned back to avoid the blow. He could still feel the searing heat emanating from Sasuke's hand as it passed by his face, and the massive amounts of energy pulsating from the attack made the hair on his neck stand on end. Though Naruto had seen Instructor Kakashi use the same move only once before, he was very aware of the incredibly lethal power it possessed. Had Naruto not been expecting the attack, Sasuke's Chidori would have ripped a gaping hole right in his chest.

Sasuke stepped back and launched another assault, his electrified hand desperately trying to connect with Naruto. He was far too slow, though, Naruto realized as he easily danced around Sasuke's barrage of punches.

Channeling that much chakra into his hands meant that Sasuke couldn't divert his energy into making his movements fast enough to hit Naruto. An expert like Kakashi had the training and the expansive chakra pool to perform both tasks simultaneously, making the Chidori a blisteringly fast and deadly weapon Sasuke, however, did not. He was struggling to keep pace with Naruto, always just a step behind, and at this rate he was bleeding chakra profusely.

Sasuke seemed to realize this as well. He leaped backwards, breathing heavily, and the tendrils of lightening encircling his fist faded away.

"Why?" Naruto shouted at his former friend. "Tell me, Sasuke!"

"She was in the way, Naruto," Sasuke answered. "Just like you are."

"She loved you, you twisted son of a bitch!" Naruto screamed. "She loved you more than anything else in the world and you shot her in cold blood!"

"She didn't love me," the Uchiha heir replied. "Deep down inside, I wasn't the one she truly had feelings for."

"What the hell are you talking about? She worshiped you and would have done anything to make you feel the same way about her."

Sasuke scowled darkly. "Really? I think we both know that's not entirely true. Not anymore, at least."

"What do you mean--"

"She loved you, you idiot," Sasuke said simply. He crossed his arms across his chest, glaring hatefully at Naruto. "God knows why, but she loves you more than me."

Naruto swallowed hard and suddenly his knees felt very weak. He had always suspected that his relationship with Sakura had evolved into something greater over the last year, but never had he guessed that she actually felt so strongly for him.

He shook his head, dispelling the thought from his head. It didn't matter. He had no idea if Sakura was still alive. All that mattered now was making sure the heartless bastard who hurt her paid for his crimes.

"Is that why you shot her?" Naruto asked.

"No," Sasuke answered, shaking his head. "I shot her because I knew you would follow me here."

"What?"

"If it makes you feel any better, though, the only reason why all of this --" Sasuke gestured in the direction of Konoha. "--is all because of you. You may not realize it yet, but all this bloodshed is because of you."

"How?" Naruto demanded, dreading the answer.

Sasuke pointed at Naruto, or, more specifically at his abdomen. "The beast dwelling within you is more powerful than you can imagine. Believe me, there are those who would do anything to get their hands on the person who controls it –you. Killing innocent, waging war, murdering childhood friends –it's a small price to pay for commanding the power of gods."

"You're lying," Naruto snapped. "No one can control its power. Not even me most of the time."

They were hollow words, though, that not even Naruto fully believed. He knew first hand the amazing, supernatural power that the Nine Tail demon was capable of. It was great enough to lay siege to an entire village full of elite Shinobi, fearsome enough to force the Hokage to sacrifice his life to permanently seal it away inside him. If what Sasuke said was true, that there were individuals who were vying to control the Kyubi's powers, then attacking Konoha as a means to reach him seemed feasible enough.

A sick, nauseating sensation swept over Naruto. What if Sasuke wasn't lying? Was all this –the village being attacked, Sakura being hurt –inadvertently his fault? Were people getting hurt and killed because of the curse that resided inside him?

Sasuke shrugged. "That's not my concern. Delivering you to those who wish to harness it, though, is."

"You have to be kidding," Naruto scoffed. "And how the hell do you plan on doing that?"

Naruto had no idea what Sasuke was thinking when he chose to betray his friends and village. However, Sasuke had to be completely insane to think that he was going to be able to subdue him without difficulty.

"You don't have a chance against me, Naruto. You never have," Sasuke calmly replied with an arrogant smile. "Even with your Kyubi powers, you don't have a prayer of defeating me."

Naruto grinned. Already he could feel the Kyubi's chakra leaking through the seal. Normally he would have fought to control the demon fox from lending him its powers, but this time, Naruto didn't even have to be tempted by the Kyubi before giving in. As much as Naruto hated to admit it, Sasuke was too skilled and posed too great of a threat to fight alone. With the Nine Tails' help, though, getting revenge would be simple.

The hair on his arms prickled as patches of fur began emerging from beneath his skin, and his teeth narrowed into sharp, pointed fangs. A surge of energy shot through his body as the Kyubi's chakra melded with his own, and for a moment he was taken aback by its intensity. The sudden sensation of his power increasing exponentially was almost overwhelming at first, but after the initial surprise, Naruto was pleased to feel just how amazing it felt. He felt stronger, faster, deadlier than he had ever before; nothing could stop him now.

Sasuke yawned, unimpressed. He held his arm out and with a muttered incantation, an orb of crackling light sprung forth cradled in his palm.

"I'm going to kill you, Sasuke," snarled Naruto. "I'm not going to hold back before. You better not either."

Sasuke's smirked as he fell into his traditional battle stance. There was no fear in his eyes, no tension in his muscles or any other indication that he feared the prospect of battling Naruto. "Let's do this."

* * *

The battle to retake Konoha was progressing slowly, but gradually Konoha's armed forces were taking the city back from the masked invaders. In almost every district a dozen different skirmishes would sporadically erupt between Konoha's militia and the commandos. At first, the invaders had had the element of surprise on their side and had used it to their advantage to ambush the police and military units that responded to their attacks.

However, it had almost been three hours since the first waves of explosions rocked the city, and now Shinobi were beginning to get involved. An emergency recall had been issued by the Hokage, and ANBU and other ninja forces that were stationed in defensive positions on the country border were beginning to flood back into the city. While the invaders had been able to repel the villagers with their machine guns and explosives, their weapons didn't stand a chance against Konoha's elite.

Hatake Kakashi peered through the binoculars that one of Konoha military officers had given to him. According to the lieutenant, one of the invaders had taken up residence on the third floor of an office building down the street and was sniping at anyone unfortunate to try and cross the road. There were already four dead soldiers lying on the sidewalk a few meters away from their position. They had been shot when the squad had tried to sneak past only minutes before Kakashi had arrived on the scene.

"He's a crack shot," said the lieutenant, wiping the sweat from his brow. "We need to get past to evacuate the wounded on the other side of the street. Normally I would have tried to find a way around, but no sense in waiting for another squad to run into this bastard."

Kakashi nodded and handed the officer back the binoculars. It was a good thing the lieutenant had radioed for help. The poor guy had probably never seen a day of combat in his life and was woefully unprepared to deal with the battle hardened killers that were massacring the villagers. He was lucky that only four of his men had been killed so far. Judging from the sniper's exceptional marksmanship, Kakashi was somewhat surprised that the entire squad hadn't been wiped out in one go.

"Good work, lieutenant," Kakashi said. "I'll take care of it from here."

"You mean _we'll _take care of it from here, right, Kakashi?" corrected the Shinobi beside Kakashi.

Clad in his normal, ostentatious green jumpsuit, Gai grinned at Kakashi, his bushy eyebrows perked up in eager anticipation.

"Yes, we'll take care of it," muttered Kakashi, rolling his eyes.

"In all fairness, Kakashi, I think it's only fair that I take care of this one," argued Gai. "After all, you dispatched those last two scoundrels we came across earlier."

"I don't care." The silver-haired Jounin closed his eyes and gently massaged his forehead. Whenever Gai opened his mouth and said something stupid, a mysterious pain began to throb in Kakashi's head. Suffice to say, he had been in pain almost the entire evening. "Just get rid of him so we can get to the wounded."

Gai frowned. "I see what you're trying to do! You're trying to prove how cool you are by pretending like you don't care, even though you know for a fact you're leading the kill count right now 70 to 68!"

"I hadn't been keeping count," Kakashi replied. For some bizarre reason, everything had to be a competition between him and Gai. Normally it was who won in rock-paper-scissors, but today apparently the game of choice was who could kill more people before the night was over.

"Very well, Kakashi!" Gai said, placing his hands on his hips and thrusting out his chest proudly. "I shall clear the way, but don't think for a moment I'm accepting your generosity."

The second Gai stepped around the corner out into the open, the loud _crack _of a high-powered rifle echoed in the air. However, Gai was prepared. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on something no one else could see, and then with one, lightening fast gesture, his hand reached up and snatched the bullet out of thin air.

"Evil will never prevail, wrong doer!" screamed Gai in the direction of the building. "Now experience the taste of fiery justice!"

And with that, he took the bullet and flung it back the way it came. A moment of awkward silence past, but then suddenly a shriek was heard in the distance. Gai stood there in the middle of the road, smiling broadly, waiting to see if the sniper would attack again. Thirty seconds past, then a minute. No additional shots were fired.

"A-are we clear?" asked the lieutenant, his eyes wide open in shock and amazement at the superhuman display of skill that Gai had just exhibited.

Kakashi rolled his eyes until they began to hurt as much as the annoying pain in his head. "Yeah," he muttered. "We're clear."

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry again for the long delays. I'm on break from university right now, though, so hopefully I'll have another chapter done before long. Thanks again for reading! Happy Holidays and Happy New Years!


	70. Chapter 70

_A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School_  
By: JA_Japster

Copyright Notice: Same old.

**Chapter 70: Lightening and Wind**

At first the two warriors were evenly matched.

Sasuke's mastery of his chakra allowed him to strike faster than Naruto, and the razor sharp arc of pure energy that surrounded his entire hand like a bladed gauntlet drew blood several times during the opening few moments of their battle.

Sasuke would lunge in, carving up Naruto's face and body with methodical blows, and then nimbly dance out of danger, letting Naruto's wild haymakers cleave harmlessly through the air.

Splotches of crimson stained the snow every time Sasuke would slice through Naruto's flesh, transforming their once pure and untouched surroundings into a grisly, macabre painting.

Naruto's healing powers, however, were effectively negating Sasuke's offense. The young Shinobi would wince and scowl whenever the sharp blades rent his skin asunder, but the wounds would heal just as quickly as they were inflicted. The pain was trivial –Naruto was used to being hurt - and the more Sasuke cut him, the duller it became.

Sasuke drove forward again, his knife-like fists carving out bloody chunks from Naruto's arms as the blonde-haired ninja protected his face from being mutilated. A geyser of blood erupted from the injury, spraying into Sasuke's eyes for an instant before the Kyubi's regenerative powers stopped the bleeding.

It was enough.

Blinded momentarily, Sasuke was a fraction of a second too slow to dodge Naruto's counter right that smashed into the side of his skull. He stumbled backwards, catching a knee to the solar plexus as he retreated, struggling to recover before another powerful blow like that knocked him unconscious.

Gasping for breath, Sasuke glared across the snow at Naruto, who was smiling.

Sasuke had better control of his chakra, meaning he could use it to be faster and more technical than Naruto. Naruto, however, because of the Kyubi, had an infinite supply of chakra. One punch was equal to a dozen of Sasuke's and he could afford to throw them all day long without tiring. Unlike Sasuke, whose stamina was rapidly dwindling, Naruto would never tire, certainly not when fueled by a berserker rage.

_Only once option left, _Sasuke decided.

He had made the mistake of thinking that an onslaught of small, fast attacks would force the Kyubi's healing powers to overload and eventually shut down. A severe miscalculation. The only remaining alternative was to use one attack, one last assault that had all his power focused into it, which hopefully would be too much for the Kyubi to handle. No one, not even the Kyubi, was omnipotent.

"Chidori!" Sasuke screamed.

His whole entire arm exploded into a maelstrom of sparkling electricity. It hissed and snapped in the still night air, creating the shrill, chirping noise from which Instructor Kakashi's signature move derived its name.

Naruto's body stiffened, preparing to defend against the upcoming attack.

Sasuke smirked. Whatever Naruto did to protect himself would be in vain. Sasuke had punched holes through the sides of mountains with the Chidori –he would have absolutely no problem literally ripping Naruto in half. That was the plan, at least. He doubted even the almighty Kyubi could survive being ripped in two.

Sasuke sped forward, willing his legs to move faster than they had ever before. The cold winter wind whipped through his hair and stung his face, and its deafening howl echoed in his ears as he tore towards his opponent.

Naruto was only fifteen feet away.

Sasuke cocked his fist back, focusing every last ounce of his remaining strength into it.

Now only ten.

Sasuke felt a twinge of disappointment. Naruto had not moved at all –he hadn't even flinched, much less make any attempt to dodge the lethal blow that would cleave his torso in half. Could Naruto possibly be so confident in the Kyubi's powers that he wasn't even going to use his own ninja skills in their duel?

Oh well.

The Uchiha heir threw his fist forward directly into Naruto's chest, expecting to smell the acrid stench of burning flesh and the repugnant odor of blood as his hand cut through his opponent's body like a knife through a cadaver. He expected to hear Naruto shriek in agony, to feel his rival's blood wash over him, bathing him in victory.

However, it never came.

_Poof!_

A thick cloud of dense smoke erupted from where Naruto had been standing only a moment ago. It stung Sasuke's eyes and filled his lungs with sulfur and ash. He stumbled backwards, coughing uncontrollably.

His mind was an incoherent blur, frantically trying to determine why his ultimate attack had resulted in complete and utter failure.

"Shadow clones?" Sasuke declared incredulously. He had mastered dark arts that few other ninjas had dared to even attempt, and Naruto had countered him with a basic move they learned in their first year at the academy?

Suddenly, someone grabbed his arms. Then, a pair of hands wrapped themselves around his legs. Sasuke swung around. It was Naruto. More specifically, it was four Naruto's, each one securing one of Sasuke's limbs like their life depended on it.

Sasuke swore, but before he could try and shake them off, another Naruto stepped out of the smoke. This one was clearly the original. His face was expressionless, but there was no disguising the blazing hatred that raged in his cerulean eyes.

In Naruto's hands was a whirling orb of flickering blue energy. It hovered an inch above his palms, spinning so rapidly that it created a miniature vortex that vacuumed in the air surrounding it.

Sasuke could only stare at the orb wordlessly. He was familiar with the technique that could conjure it. He had read about it in one of the scrolls that Kobito had given him. But the technique was so complex and required so much concentration and energy that only a high-level Jounin had a hope of ever mastering it.

Never in a million years would Sasuke have guessed that Naruto was capable of something like this.

"This is for Sakura," Naruto whispered. He drove the orb forward, slamming it into Sasuke's chest. "Rasengan!"

There was a blinding flash of light, and for a brief moment Sasuke felt an excruciating pain. But then there was nothing but darkness.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I didn't really think I would ever get back to writing this. In fact, I'm amazed I was even able to write this much. There's simply not enough time to write anymore, unfortunately. Real life sucks, what more can I say?

However, that said, I'd hate to leave this story incomplete. I've invested far too much time and energy to abandon it, so if there are still any readers left, let me know in the review box and I'll do my best to make sure A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School actually gets the ending it deserves.

Thanks again for reading! It's been a long journey, and I really appreciate each and every one of you who have stuck around and supported the story!


	71. Chapter 71

_A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School_  
By: JA_Japster

**Chapter 71: Choices and Mistakes**

It didn't take too long to locate Sasuke's body, which was fortunate since Naruto knew he didn't have much time before the back up that Neji had summoned arrived. The impact from the Rasengan had lifted Sasuke off his feet and tossed his limp form back through the air with the force of a canon blast. A trail of broken branches and scattered debris on the snow marked where Sasuke had smashed through the tree top canopy overhead, guiding Naruto to where his nemesis had fallen.

He found Sasuke sprawled out against a large tree which, judging from the massive dent in its thick trunk, had forcibly brought his airborne journey to an abrupt end. Much to Naruto's amazement, Sasuke was not only alive, but still conscious, albeit barely. Despite his tuxedo being ripped to shreds and blood and bruises covering every inch of his skin, Sasuke's onyx eyes opened when he heard Naruto approach.

"How the hell did you do that?" Sasuke asked, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth with every word he spoke.

Naruto didn't answer. The Rasengan should have killed Sasuke. There was no reason why it shouldn't have. His technique and execution had been flawless. Theoretically, Sasuke should have been vaporized into ash instantly, but somehow the raven-haired Uchiha had managed to survive.

Maybe it was luck that Sasuke was still breathing. Maybe it was destiny. Or perhaps it was because Sasuke was merely one tough son of a bitch who couldn't be killed so easily.

Either way, one thing Naruto was certain of was that he had to end this right now.

He reached into his belt and removed the kunai Neji had given him.

"You're really going to kill me, Naruto?" Sasuke asked, eyeing the dagger in his former friend's hand with a mix of apprehension and wry amusement. "You think you can do it?"

"I have to," Naruto whispered. "You killed Sakura. You betrayed all of Konoha. You deserve to die."

"Everyone dies," Sasuke said. "I killed her, you kill me, and sooner or later someone will kill you. That's the nature of war, my friend."

Naruto was about to reply, but suddenly the sound of bells filled the air. Three times the echoing chime of Konoha's bells resonated throughout the night sky, signaling to its inhabitants that the city was now free of danger.

A warm feeling of relief washed over Naruto when he heard the bells, but it was tempered by the knowledge that retaking Konoha had undoubtedly come at a steep, steep price. He had no doubt that Instructor Kakashi and ANBU would be able to drive the invaders back. However, how many innocent civilians and how many of his friends had been murdered in the process, Naruto could only dread.

Sakura was mortally injured and Neji's leg was so badly injured it might need to be amputated. Those were the only two of Naruto's friends that he could account for. For all he knew, the rest, like Kiba, Shikamaru and Hinata, could be dead already.

And it was all because of Sasuke's betrayal.

"Why?" Naruto demanded. His voice was wavering, thick with emotion, and he was horrified that tears were actually forming in his eyes. He kneeled down besides Sasuke and pulled his rival close by the tattered remnants of his collar. "Why did you do it?"

Sasuke actually laughed, indifferent to the steady stream of crimson that dripped through his lips and onto the cold snow beneath him.

"You really have no clue?" He asked. Sasuke took Naruto's silence as an affirmative and smirked cruelly. "You poor, poor, dumb bastard."

"What?" Naruto shouted. He slammed Sasuke back into the tree. "What aren't you telling me?"

"This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you," Sasuke explained. "It's like I said before –they want what's inside you, and they'll do anything to get it. All of this, the invasion, Sakura's death, you fighting me –it was all apart of a plan."

"Y-you planned all this?"

"Not me," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I'm merely a pawn"

"And this is all because of me? Because of the Kyubi?"

Sasuke chuckled. "People fight wars over oil, gold, slaves and diamonds. Hell, the human species has committed genocide over make believe gods. Can you imagine what people would be willing to do in order to harness the unlimited potential of the Kyubi?"

He looked into the distance, past the trees where he and Naruto could see the faint glow from the fires that ravaged Konoha. The defenders might have prevailed, but the smell of ash and the clouds of billowing smoke that curled through the air were a constant reminder that they had not escaped unscathed. Not by a long shot.

"Invading Konoha in the middle of the night?" Sasuke said, shaking his head. "That's just a taste of what's to come."

"I can't control the Kyubi," Naruto responded. If he couldn't control the Kyubi, the very being that inhabited his body, how could anyone think they could bend the demonic fox to their will? "Not all the time. It has a mind of its own."

"Then they'll kill you and suck the demon fox out of you," Sasuke said. "I imagine they're not concerned with the particulars. You're just a shell, Naruto. A vessel. Once they have what they want, you become as expendable as me."

Naruto was speechless for several moments. This was the second time Sasuke was telling him this, but with his head a little less preoccupied with murder, his nemesis' words were actually sinking in.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because, I want you to understand that everything that transpired tonight is because of you," said Sasuke. "I want you to realize that every innocent life that was lost, every drop of blood that was spilled was because you didn't have the courtesy to die and take that damned fox with you to hell."

Naruto couldn't even count how many times he had heard similar, angry sentiments from the villagers of Konoha when he was growing up. The angry muttering whenever he walked past a crowd on the street, the menacing glares that Naruto always felt directed at his back. They hated him for harboring the Kyubi, for embodying the very thing that almost resulted in the complete annihilation of Konoha.

He scowled darkly at Sasuke but said nothing. There was nothing he could say to defend himself. If Sasuke was telling the truth, then his accusations were every bit as damning as he claimed. Because of the Kyubi, because of him, Konoha had almost been destroyed again tonight.

Naruto shook his head fiercely, as if the physical gesture could dispel the terrible thoughts creeping into his mind. He would have to dwell on this later; there was only one thing left to do and he needed to focus to ensure it was followed through. Konoha was counting on him. Sakura was counting on him.

He pressed the tip of the kunai against Sasuke's throat, pressing it firmly into his flesh until a thin rivulet of blood seeped from Sasuke's skin.

"Do it," Sasuke snarled. "Kill me, Naruto, or you'll regret for the rest of your life that you hadn't."

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto. His hands were shaking, the point of his blade quivering against Sasuke's neck. All it would take was one simple slash, a mere flick of his wrist, to open Sasuke's jugular and end the traitor's life permanently. It would be so easy, so effortless, and yet Naruto found it difficult to continue breathing, yet alone murder the man who he once considered his ally.

_Do it! _The Kyubi's voice screamed in his head. _Kill him! He murdered Sakura! _

"I-I thought you were my friend," Naruto said in between ragged breaths. There were tears collecting in the corner of his eye, dripping down to join the smatterings of dried blood that caked his battered face. "I trusted you, Sasuke."

"That was your mistake," replied Sasuke softly.

"No," Naruto said, shaking his head one more time.

He should have seen Sasuke's duplicity coming –a real ninja would have. A true Shinobi, a cold blooded killer like Instructor Kakashi, would have never allowed their emotions to cloud their judgment and would have relied on their training instead of their feelings.

Naruto hadn't. He had let Sasuke deceive him because, despite their rivalry, he thought they were friends. Because of his naivety, he had failed the village he had sworn an oath to protect. He had failed Sakura.

"That was my choice."

With a piercing scream, Naruto drove the blade forward. Sasuke's eyes went wide with surprise as the kunai tore through his throat, unleashing a torrent of red mist that sprayed into the air. However, that was the only emotion that the young Uchiha ever displayed before death claimed him. There was no screams of pain nor final words before Sasuke's head slumped forward against his chest.

Uchiha Sasuke was dead.

Naruto stepped away from his friend's unmoving body and the knife fell limply from his fingers. For a long moment, he stared at Sasuke, his mind still unable to properly process what he had just done. He wasn't sure if he should feel elated that he had slain his enemy and avenged Sakura's death or devastated that he had just taken the life of someone he considered his friend.

The only thing Naruto felt, actually, was numbness. A dull, lifeless sensation coursed through the young ninja's body, filling him with a weariness that made him feel a million years old.

"I'm amazed," a voice said from behind him. "I didn't think you had it in you."

Naruto whirled around just in time to see a man step out of the trees, a black and maroon cloak billowing behind him in the wind. It took only a second to realize that Naruto had seen the cloud-shaped pattern on the cloak before and even less time to identify the ninja who was wearing it.

"Itachi!" Naruto shouted.

"Not that it matters now, of course," Itachi continued, as though he hadn't heard Naruto. "But I suppose it's at least mildly interesting that you actually have the capability of killing in cold blood. Then again, perhaps that isn't so surprising considering the cursed blood that runs through your veins."

"What the hell do you mean 'capability?'" Naruto demanded. He clenched his fists, prepared to fight. After battling with Sasuke, he severely doubted he would be able to defeat Itachi, but maybe he'd be able to hold his own until reinforcements arrived.

"I couldn't let you kill my little brother, not yet at least," Itachi said. He gestured back towards the tree where Naruto had left Sasuke's body. It was gone, replaced by a few strands of wispy smoke that was quickly carried away by a strong gust of wind.

"We have much bigger plans for him I'm afraid. Though I imagine I'll have to kill Sasuke sooner or later, it's far too early in the game to be disposing of him in such a pointless fashion."

Naruto was speechless. "I-I killed a shadow clone?"

"Disappointed?" Itachi asked. "Yes, I imagine you would be, particularly after what my brother did to your girlfriend. Or his girlfriend too, I suppose I should say. Quite unfortunate, though not entirely unexpected."

"You knew about this?" The blonde-haired ninja asked, grinding his teeth.

"Knew about it?" Itachi laughed coldly. "I planned this."

Naruto took a deep, shaky breath. The same hatred he had for Sasuke was manifesting itself again, only this time it was directed at Itachi. His eyes narrowed, glaring at the renegade Shinobi in front of him with a malevolence that he hadn't known he was capable of before tonight.

"I'm going to kill you, Itachi. And I'm going to kill your brother. I swear it."

Itachi nodded understandingly. "Perhaps one of these days, Naruto, but not tonight."

Before Naruto could say or do anything more, Itachi swished his cloak and a cloud of smoke erupted around him. He was nowhere to be seen when it finally dissipated, and Naruto couldn't spot any signs of where he might have retreated to. It was if he had vanished into thin air.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Thank you for the feedback, guys! It was great to see that, despite the extended hiatus, there are still people who've stuck with _Ninja's Guide _this entire time. We're quickly approaching four or five years since I first started writing this story, and it's always amazing to see how it has evolved.

We're only a few chapters away from the end, and hopefully they'll be here soon.

Thank you again for all your support! Be sure to leave a review in the comment box.


	72. Chapter 72

_A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School_  
By: JA_Japster

**Chapter 72: Eating Dirt**

The moment Shikamaru regained consciousness was the moment he realized that neither the five bullets he had taken directly to the sternum nor the fifty foot fall had managed to kill him. His entire body hurt far too much to be dead; it hurt so much that death almost seemed preferable to the agonizing pain that wracked virtually every inch of his battered self. He cracked open his eyes and tried to sit up, but instantly regretted it. A sharp, excruciating sensation erupted in his chest, as if someone had just plunged a javelin into him, and with a soft whimper he fell back into the soft embrace of what he presumed was a hospital bed.

Without even bothering to glance down at his heavily bandaged torso, he could already tell that at least a few of his ribs where shattered. The intravenous tubes that were plugged into his sides were feeding potions directly into his bones, accelerating the healing process exponentially beyond what the normal human body was capable of. The very thought made him nauseous, an incredibly unpleasant feeling that did not combine well with constant pain that seemed to explode throughout his being whenever he made the mistake of moving even slightly. But at least he was alive.

But what about Ino?

His eyes widened and he sat up, only to fall back into his bed amidst sputtering coughs and muttered curses. All he wanted to do was jump out of bed, cast aside the tubes and find out whether Ino had also survived the attack, but his body was far too frail to allow that. He swore one more time defiantly and then allowed himself to relax. Struggling was not only futile but also liable to lead to further injuries.

"You really shouldn't do that," a caustic and distinctly female voice said from beside him.

Shikamaru turned his head and looked at the blonde, teenage girl who was sitting by his bed. She was dressed in an attractive dress that Shikamaru couldn't help but notice was so revealing that it was almost immodest. He also couldn't overlook the fact that it was practically drenched in blood. Her straightened hair cascaded down her shoulders, and there was a mischievous smirk stretched across her comely features.

If Shikamaru didn't know better, he would have said the young woman was gorgeous. However, he did know better. Much better.

A groan of misery escaped his lips, and for a fleeting moment he genuinely wished either the bullets or gravity had managed to kill him.

"You," he muttered in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Temari of the Sungakure. Eldest daughter of the Sand Village's Kazekage, skilled Shinobi, member of the Sand Siblings and world class bitch. Shikamaru hated her.

"Now, now, now," Temari chided. Shikamaru was pretty sure that playful smile of hers was intensifying as she watched him with all the mannerisms of a hungry spider observing her helpless prey. "Is that any way to treat your childhood friend? After all, it's been five years since we last saw one another."

"Six," Shikamaru corrected her. "And the last time I saw you I swore I never wanted to see you again."

Temari chuckled. "Oh, is that what you were saying? The way you were running after our caravan and screaming incoherently, I really couldn't tell what you were babbling about. You were also crying if I remember correctly."

Shikamaru gritted his teeth. "You kicked me in the shins and made me eat mud in front of my friends."

"No more than you deserved, I'm sure."

"It was because I picked flowers and gave them to you!" he shouted incredulously.

"Like I said, no more than you deserved."

"What do you want?" Shikamaru snarled. "Or are you just here to torment me more?"

This time Shikamaru was certain Temari's smile grew larger. She crossed her legs and idly picked at her immaculately manicured fingernails. "Oh, I just thought you might want to thank me for saving your life. That's all."

"What?"

"You heard me correctly," said Temari. "I was walking towards the gymnasium with my brothers when suddenly I saw a body come flying off the roof. Naturally, I took out my fan," she gestured at the metal case leaning against the wall –Temari's weapon of choice was a giant folding fan – "And managed to generate enough wind to slow down their fall so the impact didn't kill them."

She curled her lip as she finished her story. "Of course, once I realized it was you who I saved, I realized my mistake immediately. But by then it wasn't like I could drag you back up to the roof and throw you off again. Walking up all those stairs would have been murder in my heels…"

The knowledge that Temari, his arch nemesis, had saved his life was humiliating for Shikamaru. Still, she had saved his life, and for that he supposed he should be at least slightly grateful.

"Thanks," muttered Shikamaru under his breath.

"I didn't quite hear that," Temari said, even though he knew she had heard him perfectly fine.

"I said 'thanks', jeez."

Temari grinned wickedly at him. "You're very welcome, Shikamaru. Now don't forget, you owe me one."

Shikamaru couldn't say anything to that. He indeed did owe her one, and Temari was probably the last person in the world that he wanted to owe anything to. In fact, Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder whether Temari had consciously decided to save his life just so that she could constantly remind him that she had rescued him from certain death. The torture of being in her debt, Temari undoubtedly figured, would be infinitely worst than anything caused by his injuries.

"By the way, your girlfriend stopped by a few hours ago to make sure you were OK," Temari said.

"Ino did?" Shikamaru asked. Relief washed over him. He had no idea Ino had managed to survive a group of armed men that had mercilessly gunned –it wasn't that important, really. Merely knowing she was safe was enough to put him at ease and dispel all the worry and anxiety that had been swelling up within his chest.

"The blonde? Yeah, she wanted to make check in on you before she was deployed," the eldest Sand Sibling replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"She is way too hot for you by the way. Did you trick her or blackmail her or something, because there is no way someone that pretty would go out with a hideous schmuck like you."

"So I've been told. Wait –what do you mean she got deployed?"

Temari rolled her eyes. "In case you hadn't figured it out yet, Konoha and her allies are retaliating. We're at war now, Shikamaru, and war, last time I checked, required soldiers like your girlfriend."

A new wave of worry poured over Shikamaru, sending shivers down his spine as though he had just been drenched in a deluge of icy cold water. Still, he tried to disguise his concerns. The last thing he wanted to do was appear weak in front of Temari. "G-good," stammered, his voice lacking the confidence he had been hoping to convey. "S-she can take care of herself."

"I believe she was attached to a reconnaissance patrol. From what I understand, we're attacking in the next 48 hours in full force and the Hokage wants to know what we're up against."

"What countries allied with us?"

"Water has thrown in with us," Temari answered. "Lightening, Earth and Sound, of course, are suspected of being behind the invasion and have declined to sign an alliance with us. The only course of action is to attack their borders and take the fight to them."

Shikamaru frowned as the tactician inside him considered Temari's news. It would be a three on three fight, but not necessarily an equal one. Fire, Wind and Water country would definitely have the advantage in terms of skilled warriors –all three lands were famous for producing the most talented Shinobi in the world. Lightening and Earth, however, had the natural resources and the industrial infrastructure to arm their normal soldiers with the latest in modern military technology.

That meant machine guns, helicopters, heat seeking missiles and more. Conventional weapons couldn't rival the dangers posed by a well trained Shinobi, but they definitely posed a serious threat all the same. On top of that, their enemies would have no shortage of powerful Shinobi either.

The war would not be easily won or lost. It was the reason why the peace between the ninja villages had lasted for as long as it did. No one had wanted to engage in a long, costly war that would inevitably claim the lives of millions. Until now at least.

"When are you deploying?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm leaving in ten minutes with my brothers to return home. I'll be leading my own unit into battle," Temari said. She glanced at her watch and stood up. "I should probably leave now and let you rest."

She picked up her folded fan, strung it across her back and walked across the room to the door.

"Hey," Shikamaru called out to her, causing Temari to pause with her hand on the door knob. "Make sure you stay safe out there, yeah?"

Temari smiled faintly. "Yeah, sure. You too."

* * *

Author's Notes:

I told you I was serious about finishing this story. I think we're about four or five chapters away from the end.

Thank you again for all the feedback! Most appreciated! Make sure you keep leaving reviews –the more I get, the more motivation I have to write faster!


	73. Chapter 73

_A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School_  
By: JA_Japster

**Chapter 73: Innocence Lost**

"Where is she?" shouted Naruto as he stormed into the lobby of Konoha General Hospital. The wooden double doors slammed noisily against the wall, their panes of glass rattling precariously in their frames, but no one paid any attention to the young Shinobi's intrusion.

It didn't take long too figure out why. Naruto doubted anyone had even heard him amidst the pandemonium of wailing of injured and the incoherent screaming of doctors and nurses as they dashed from one patient to the next. Virtually every square inch of the waiting room was filled with wounded civilians, soldiers and Shinobi. The waiting room chairs that normally filled the lobby had been pushed against the wall, and in their place were rows upon rows of occupied cots.

Some of the injured, Naruto noticed as he walked past them, wouldn't make it through the night. They were lying on their beds, staring wordlessly at the ceiling as blood spilled through their bandages and dripped on the floor. One man was cradling the bleeding stump where his hand used to be, sobbing pitifully as he tried to wrap it with gauze using his teeth. The healers hadn't even had a chance to tend to him; there were much more dire injuries that required their attention.

"Mommy! Mommy!" a little boy shrieked. Half of his face was hidden behind blood soaked bandages.

"Fragmentation grenade," said the nurse who standing by him. "Shrapnel is all over his face."

"Can we save his eye?" asked a surgeon as he hastily sterilized his tools in a nearby bowl.

The nurse shook her head grimly. "We'll be lucky if he survives. He's already lost quite a bit of blood…"

Naruto quickly turned away, a flash of intense anger exploding in his chest. All this pain and death was because of Sasuke. His fist clenched at his side at the memory. He had had the chance to kill Sasuke, to avenge all those his treachery had killed, but in his haste to seek revenge he had messed up and allowed the traitor to escape. It didn't matter that he had been deceived by Itachi; one of the greatest Shinobi Konoha had ever produced. He had failed everyone because he was too weak and too stupid.

But that would change.

He moved into the next room, flinging open the doors and sending a pair of nurses scurrying for cover.

"Sakura!" he shouted, peeking into each room as he made his way down the corridor. When he had left her in Neji's care, she was only barely alive. Maybe the healers had been able to reach her in time to save her life. Maybe she was already dead. Either way, Naruto had to know. The uncertainty of his friends' fate was eating away at his soul, and Naruto was afraid he would go insane if he didn't find out soon what had happened to Sakura.

"What the hell are you yelling about?" demanded Instructor Shizune, peering up from a clipboard she had been studying. "Can't you see we're a little busy?"

Normally a response like that from Instructor Shizune would have been more than enough to send Naruto scurrying for cover. After all, her temper was almost as legendary as the Hokage's. Today, though, Naruto planted his heels and returned his teacher's icy stare. "Where's Sakura, Instructor?" he asked.

For a moment, Naruto thought Shizune was going to start screaming at him or even physically remove him from the hospital. To his surprise, though, her cold demeanor softened.

"Follow me, Naruto," she said.

Naruto obeyed wordlessly, following Instructor Shizune to a room located in the rear of the hospital, far removed from the raucous noise of the crowded lobby. As they passed through a set of guarded double doors, it became eerily silent. Only the sound of their footsteps and the rhythmic beeping of life monitors echoed throughout the empty corridor. The silence was unnerving, an ominous portent of the inevitable that awaited Naruto at the end of the hallway.

Shizune stopped at the door. "Before I let you in, Naruto, you should know a few things."

"What?" asked Naruto impatiently.

"Don't say anything about her parents."

"Are they alright?" The last Naruto had seen Sakura's parents, her mother had been safe. Her father, however, had been badly injured before Naruto had killed his attackers.

"They will be," Shizune replied, affording Naruto a small sigh of relief. "They've been evacuated to the shelters where they'll be tended to until we can guarantee their security."

Naruto nodded. "What else?"

Shizune pushed open the door, allowing Naruto to look inside. There was only one bed in it, and Sakura was occupying it. There were a dozen tubes feeding chemicals and potions from a number of bottles that were suspended from the ceiling, and a series of sensors were attached to a small screen resting on a nearby table that was monitoring her vitals.

_Beep, beep, beep. _The steady, haunting noise filled the room.

"H-how is she?" Naruto asked nervously. Her entire body was covered in bandages. Only her head was visible beneath the patchwork of gauze, wires and tubes, and her face looked deathly pale. She had lost a lot of blood. Too much perhaps.

"She was in surgery for over five hours," Shizune said. "We managed to remove a bullet lodged directly into her spine, but I'm afraid she lost too much blood during the process."

"What does that mean?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Shizune pointed at the bottles of multicolored liquid draining into Sakura's body. "Those are the only things keeping her alive right now. Without them, she should have died hours ago."

Naruto swallowed hard, his mind not quite registering the gravity of what Shizune had just told him. "Alright, well we'll just keep swapping the bottles and..."

"Naruto," Shizune said softly. "We can't do that. There's too many other people who need them, people we can actually save. The only reason why I allowed the nurses to keep giving them to Sakura is because I thought one of her friends or family might want to talk to her before..." her voice trailed off, allowing Naruto to conclude the grim message on his own.

"So she's going to die?" There were tears building up in Naruto's eyes, but for once, he didn't care about trying to fight them back.

"She's stable for the time being, but yes. Once the potions wear off, she's going to die. We'll do everything we can to keep her alive, of course, but there's not too much more we can do except make her as comfortable as possible."

"H-how long do I have?"

Shizune glanced at her watch. "Five minutes. Maybe six. I'm amazed she's survived this long, even with the potions. She's a tough one." She smiled sadly at her student and held the door open for him. "Go on, talk with her. I'll give you a few minutes alone."

Naruto slowly walked into the room. For a moment, all he could do was stare at Sakura, unable to grasp that the friend he had cherished, even loved maybe, was slowly slipping further and further into oblivion right before his eyes with each passing second. She looked so peaceful, so serene. If not for all the medical apparatus struggling to sustain her life, Naruto thought she looked like she was sleeping.

He sat down on a chair besides her bed and gently nudged her arm.

"S-Sasuke?" Sakura whispered, her eyes slowly cracking open.

"No, it's me, Naruto," Naruto replied gently. Her hand met his, their fingers curling around one another.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey yourself."

Sakura chuckled softly. "I'm pretty sure this is the worst school dance ever."

"Could have been better. Wasn't crazy about the food or music."

"We'll have to give the planning committee hell for this on Monday. I should be out of here by then, right?"

Naruto tried to find the courage to laugh or at least to reassure Sakura that she was going to be alright, but he couldn't. He didn't know if Instructor Shizune had already told Sakura about the severity of her condition, but he couldn't find it in his heart to lie to her.

Tears were streaming freely now as he grasped Sakura's hands firmly and pressed them against his face.

"I-I'm sorry, Sakura," Naruto sobbed. "I said I'd protect you and I couldn't."

"It's not your fault," Sakura replied. "I was with Sasuke when it happened anyway. There wasn't anything you could've done."

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Where is Sasuke anyway?" Sakura asked, peering past Naruto as if the young Uchiha was hiding behind him. "I thought he would have come to visit me already."

"S-Sakura...don't you remember what happened?"

"Not really," Sakura admitted. "The last thing I remember is calling you on the phone. Then everything went black."

"Is he alright? Please tell me Sasuke is safe. What happened to him, Naruto?" she asked urgently.

Naruto was at a loss for words. How could he tell her that Sasuke, the man she loved, had betrayed not only her, but the entire village? How could he possibly reveal that the reason why she was dying was because Sasuke had deceived and manipulated her before shooting her in the back? How could he tell her right before she died that her entire relationship with Sasuke had been one big facade?

"Sakura..."

Their eyes met, and Naruto couldn't think of a time when he had seen Sakura look so concerned or worried. Not even when she thought she had almost killed him at the beginning of the year had her eyes been so full of anxiety, so full of fear that her greatest worry in the world had come to realization.

It was then that Naruto understood that Sakura loved Sasuke, truly and completely, and that to her, his well being was all that mattered to her. She was so hopelessly devoted to him that she wouldn't think twice about giving her life for his, and, in a way, she just had. But she didn't need to know that. Not now, not ever.

"Sasuke saved us all, Sakura," Naruto said, forcing himself to smile.

He hoped she wouldn't notice the way his voice trembled and shook, threatening to break down into incoherent sobs at any moment. "We were attacked, and you should have seen what happened after you got hit. Sasuke went insane with rage and, wow, I've never seen him fight so hard before."

"Really?" Sakura asked. Her voice was getting fainter, and Naruto couldn't help but notice her vitals beginning to flicker on the monitor. Nonetheless, her face was glowing with joy, and their were tears of relief streaming from her eyes.

"Yeah," said Naruto. "If it wasn't for him, we would have all died there. But he fought all the soldiers off and then carried you back here."

"But where is he?"

"He's going to be just fine. I promise. He took a few hits, but Instructor Shizune guarantees me he'll make a full recovery once he's out of surgery. He wanted to be here with you, but since the doctors wouldn't let him, he told me to stay by your side until you got better."

"I'm so glad..." Sakura's eyes closed and her head leaned back into her pillow. "Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"I-I can't see anything..."

Naruto squeezed her hand hard, searching desperately for the warmth he knew should be radiating from it but not finding it. "I'm right here, Sakura."

"I know you are, Naruto," Sakura said, smiling weakly. "You always have been..."

Suddenly, Sakura's grip loosened and Naruto realized her entire body had gone limp. The shrill shriek of her beside monitor was ringing in his ears as her vital signs flat lined, but he paid them no heed. He frantically shook Sakura, screaming her name over and over as though that might somehow awaken her from her slumber.

"Sakura, please..." he begged. "Please don't leave me..."

The doors to Sakura's room exploded open and Instructor Shizune raced in with a group of healers behind her.

"Please, help her," Naruto pleaded.

"It's time for you to leave, Naruto," Instructor Shizune said, pushing him aside.

Slowly, Naruto backed out of the room, watching in horror as the healers grouped around Sakura's unmoving form. They were pressing their hands against her chest, muttering incantations in order to transfer their chakra into hers. Their faces were grim, as if they were resigned to the fact that their actions were merely a formality and that the life they were trying to save had already expired.

Never before had Naruto felt so helpless and weak. When it mattered most, all the powers he commanded, whether it be his own or the Kyubi's, were utterly useless.

The door closed behind him, blocking the healers and Sakura from view and leaving him all alone once again.

* * *

Author's Notes:

This chapter took a lot longer to write than I had anticipated, but we're only like three or four chapters until the end so stick with it! Thank you again for all the reviews –they're most appreciated and motivate me to write faster. So if you don't want to wait another two months before the next chapter, be sure to drop a quick word or two expressing what you liked, didn't like, comments, questions, etc.


	74. Chapter 74

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Nothing new here folks. Same as it's always been.

Summary:  
Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter 74: **

He was easily the most gorgeous man she had ever seen, Karin decided as she adjusted her thick rimmed glasses to better see him in the dimly lit stone cavern. She raised the lantern higher, drinking him in every detail of the unconscious, raven-haired shinobi that Kabuto had left in her care with a zeal that she had never felt before. The way the light danced in his blank, onyx irises, his sharp, handsome features, his impressive physique –every beautiful nuance of their mysterious guest was greedily absorbed as her eyes poured over him again and again.

She would have liked to think her obsessive behavior was because this was the first attractive male she had seen in almost a year. Being a convicted felon on the run from the Hidden Village of the Grass' relentless tracking teams left precious little time to socialize with boys her age, and tragically the only males she regularly spoke with, Jugo and Suigetsu, she utterly despised. Kabuto was alright, but she rarely saw him. He preferred to contact her or the others by text message; in fact, when Kabuto had dropped off her new, ravishing friend, it had been the first time they had met personally in over six months.

He had said the boy's name was Uchiha Sasuke and that he would return in a few hours with further instructions. Karin had only nodded and helped Kabuto deposit the unconscious boy on one of the cots that she and her team had been using since Orochimaru deployed them on the outskirts of Konoha a couple weeks earlier. He had also warned her not to touch him in any way, and as far as Karin was concerned, she had obeyed that instruction to the letter. Looking, after all, was not touching.

It was more than just Sasuke's exquisite looks, however, that mesmerized Karin. One of her gifts was being able to detect and analyze chakra patterns, and Sasuke's chakra was very exceptional. It burned brighter than any Karin had seen before, but there was also an ominous hue that radiated from the very core of his being that she found both intimidating and attractive. It flickered and waned, like a candle's flame caught in the wind, but every so often it would expand, threatening to engulf his normal chakra signature in a wave of darkness. The conflicting dynamic was only something Karin could see, and she found it intriguing.

"What are you, Sasuke?" she mused out loud, peering down at him like a princess waiting to awaken her sleeping prince with a kiss.

Her lips were slowly creeping towards Sasuke's, crawling closer with each passing second. She couldn't believe how badly she wanted to kiss him, to experience what his lips tasted like. She bet they were delicious, like eating a strawberry, only a million times better. She suddenly came to a pause with her face a mere inch away from his.

Kabuto had explicitly told her not to touch him, but Sasuke had not so much as stirred since then. Besides, Kabuto wasn't due for another half hour or so, and Jugo and Suigetsu were on a reconnaissance patrol until dawn. Why couldn't she have a little bit of fun while everyone else was out? No one would ever find out, and honestly, what was the worst thing that could happen?

Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his.

Almost instantly Sasuke's hand shot out and encircled Karin's throat, lifting the red haired shinobi off her feet. His fingers pressed into her flesh, drawing blood beneath his nails and causing Karin to gag. She tried frantically to pry his fingers apart and loosen his crushing grip, but it was like an iron vice. Her feet kicked futilely at Sasuke's chest, but he paid her feeble attempts at escape no heed as his cold, uncaring eyes bore into her like a drill.

"Where the hell am I?" he snarled. "And who the hell are you?"

Karin could only gurgle incoherently, her fingers clawing uselessly at Sasuke's hand.

"What did you do to me? Where is Sakura?"

"I-I c-can't breath..." Karin wheezed.

Suddenly, the sound of Kabuto's voice filled the cave. "Let her go, Sasuke."

Sasuke looked at Kabuto for a second, shrugged, and then dropped Karin to the ground. She coughed and sputtered, gasping for breath and massaging her bruised throat.

"I told you not to disturb him," Kabuto told Karin with an amused smile.

"No shit," Karin muttered shakily. She hardly considered herself as being physically weak –she was a shinobi after all. However, the ease in which Sasuke had lifted her off the ground and almost strangled her to death was unnerving. They might both be shinobi, but the disparity in their powers was so massive it made Karin feel like an impotent child in the presence of an omnipotent god.

"Where am I, Kabuto?" Sasuke demanded. "What's going on?"

Kabuto tossed Sasuke a bag that he was carrying. "Put on these clothes and tell me exactly what you remember last."

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, but then began dressing himself in the robes that Kabuto had given him. "You were late for our meeting," he said. "And then..."

The young Uchiha froze. "Itachi..." he whispered. "I fought him and then he did something to me...looked into my eyes and..."

"And what?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I can't remember. I can only recall a few scattered images. I know I was at the dance with Sakura...we kissed and...I don't know what happened."

Kabuto placed his hand gently on Sasuke's shoulder. "Sasuke, I'm afraid you've been hypnotized by your brother's Sharingan for quite some time. You haven't been in direct control of your actions for several weeks now."

"What?" exclaimed Sasuke incredulously. "No, there's no way..."

"That's why you can't remember anything correctly. His Sharingan technique is so powerful he can actually control your every action as if you were his personal puppet. The only reason why you can recall anything at all is because I suspect he's been pulling the strings from quite some distance."

"B-but why would he do that?" asked Sasuke. "What's he trying to accomplish?"

"He's already achieved what he wanted from you. That's the only reason why I was able to rescue you before he had you killed. For almost a month now he's been using you to carry out his dirty work, and tonight was the culmination of his plans."

"What happened?"

"Him and his allies, the Akatsuki, orchestrated an invasion on Konoha. From what I understand, the village was badly damaged and many Konoha citizens were killed, both civilian and Shinobi. The attack was unsuccessful, though, but the damage was done. In all likelihood, tomorrow morning Konoha and her allies will go to war."

Karin admired how stoically Sasuke was taking this all in. The news had to be devastating. Not only had he just discovered that his brother had been manipulating him into carrying out his nefarious plot, but his home had just been violently attacked. And yet, despite this tragic news, Sasuke's face remained expressionless, as if Kabuto had just told him the weather instead of this damning revelation that undoubtedly forever change his life.

"I can't go back to Konoha, can I," said Sasuke.

Kabuto shook his head. "I'm afraid not. By now I'm sure they've already compiled enough evidence to convict you of high treason. Even if they wanted to believe that Itachi had been controlling you using his Sharingan, there will be those who will want to see you hang just so they can have a scape goat for this fiasco."

Sasuke said nothing, but Karin could tell his mind was working furiously to procure an alternate solution. He wouldn't find one. Karin didn't know anything about Konoha, but judging from the reports about the devastation that the attack had left on the city, she knew someone would have to take responsibility, if only to appease the villager's petty thirst for vengeance. Sasuke would be as good as good of a fall guy as the next unfortunate sap they found to dance on the end of a rope, regardless of his innocence or guilt.

"There's more, Sasuke, that I think you should now," said Kabuto.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"My informants tell me you were responsible for murdering two people while under Itachi's control. The first was a civilian security guard. His body was discovered a few hours ago."

"And the other?"

"One of your classmates, Haruno Sakura."

Sasuke sat down on the cot he had been resting on earlier and, burying his face in his hands, he exhaled deeply. It was only then that Karin noticed his body was trembling as silent sobs wracked the young man.

"I-I killed Sakura?" he whispered. "I can't remember..."

"Of course you can't," said Kabuto. "Itachi made you murder them. You are not responsible for what happened."

"I am responsible," protested Sasuke angrily. "If I were stronger, I could have protected Sakura. None of this would have happened if I had the power to kill Itachi."

Kabuto raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Is that what you still desire, Sasuke? The power to kill your brother?"

"More than anything else in the world," was Sasuke's reply.

His words were laced with a cold conviction that sent a chill down Karin's spine, and his aura was pulsating from his being, sending waves of ominous energy washing over her. Suddenly, she understood why his chakra profile had fascinated her. It truly was something only a soul as disturbed, angry and tortured as Sasuke could be capable of.

"Good, good," said Kabuto, obviously pleased. "In that case, there's someone I want you to meet who's going to be able to help you."

A chill descended down Karin's spine once she realized who Kabuto was referring to, and sure enough, a moment later a new figure appeared, materializing seemingly from thin air. He was a tall, lanky man with skin as pale as snow and long, oily black hair that draped down over his shoulders. His eyes were narrow slits that glowed orange in the cave's ill lighting, and his thin lips were pulled across his gaunt features into a cold smile.

"Sasuke," Kabuto gestured towards the man. "I'd like you to meet your new master, Orochimaru."

* * *

Deidara was furious. Not that Itachi particularly cared, but his raucous screaming and shouting was making it incredibly difficult to sleep and sleep was something Itachi had had precious little of since the Hidden Rock Village and the Hidden Cloud Village had launched their failed assault on Konoha. As a result, he found himself in a particularly sour mood, especially when it came to anything that interrupted his rest, and the sound of Deidara's screeching complaints were quickly trying what very limited patience he had for the insane bomb maker to begin with.

"I'm telling you, Konan," Deidara shouted furiously, droplets of spit flying everywhere, "I don't know why the explosives in the school didn't go off!"

Konan crossed her arms and glared at him. "You were supposed to blow up the school along with anyone inside it, but instead you got your butt handed to you by a bunch of teenagers?"

"It was those damn Sand brats," spat Deidara, "and they had the Kazekage with him! Maybe if you hadn't only given me a bunch of nitwits with guns I would've had more time to figure out what went wrong with the explosives."

Itachi stirred from where he was resting against the side of a tree and opened one eye. "For someone who's allegedly supposed to be an expert with bombs, you sure do screw up a lot. What's this? The second time now? Oh well, at least you didn't blow yourself up this time. Actually, wait, that's a bit of a shame, really..."

"I'm in no mood for you right now, Itachi!" Deidara screeched, fury flashing in his only remaining eye. He had lost the other when his bomb belt had exploded prematurely in the sewers beneath Konoha. Evidently, he was still a little upset about the incident.

He pointed an accusing finger at Itachi. "And what the hell was up with your information? You couldn't have let me known that there was a chance that Chunin class Shinobi might be showing up?"

"First, I didn't think someone of your reputation would need help against a bunch of kids who are still in the academy," sneered Itachi. "Clearly I was mistaken, so I suppose for that I do offer an incredibly insincere apology."

Deidara clenched his fists at his side, an expression of pure fury etched across his feminine features. Konan rolled her eyes. This was hardly the first meeting where Itachi's goading had gotten the better of Deidara. Fortunately, Konan knew that no matter how incompetent the former Rock Shinobi might be, he wasn't stupid enough to think he had a chance attacking Itachi head on.

"Second," continued Itachi, clearly enjoying Deidara's frustration, "it wasn't my job to collect information about reinforcements. It was my job to gather plans of the building and to ensure your entry team had access to the school. Might I add, Konan, I actually did my job. How about you, Deidara? Did you do yours?"

"I-I'm warning you," Deidara hissed. "One more word out of you Itachi and I'll-"

"That's enough," Konan snapped impatiently. "I don't have time to deal with your immaturity. Pain is waiting for my report."

She rounded on Itachi. "Are you sure about your information?"

Itachi smirked. "As predicted, Orochimaru has abandoned us. He got what he wanted and now he's pursuing his own plans."

"From what I understand your brother is with him," Konan added, her eyes suspiciously analyzing Itachi.

Itachi shrugged his shoulders. "I'll kill him when I kill Orochimaru the next time I run into that snake."

A long, tense moment passed as Konan continued staring at Itachi, trying to unearth his true intentions. It really wasn't any secret that Itachi was a duplicitous, scheming bastard who couldn't be trusted –just like virtually every member of Akatuski. The real question was what was Itachi really planning. She knew him well enough to know that everything he did happened for a reason; nothing was left to chance with Itachi.

Finally, she frowned but said, "Fine," and turned her attention away from Itachi. "Akatsuki has accomplished what we came here for. The war has started and that's all that matters. Now, I strongly suggest you follow your exit stratagems out of Konoha as soon as possible. ANBU will no doubt locate our camp within the hour."

Itachi nodded.

Shortly after, Konan and Deidara disappeared back into the forest, the latter with a glare of pure hatred as he departed. Once Itachi was sure the two Shinobi were gone, he reached into his pocket and removed a small, metal device that he had removed from Deidara's bomb earlier that day. It was the triggering mechanism; without it, the explosives that had been designed to destroy Konoha High were completely inert.

"Oops," Itachi said with a smile. He tossed the trigger on the ground, crushed it beneath his sandal and allowed the cold, winter wind to blow away the fragments.

For a moment, Itachi stopped to reflect on what they had done. In a way, he was proud of what they had accomplished. A small group of Shinobi had managed to manipulate entire nations into going to war with each another, leaving Akatsuki blessedly free to roam and carry out their plans unnoticed. It was actually quite beautiful. Millions would undoubtedly die in the next few years as Konoha and her allies unleashed their military might against their enemies. Jets would bomb cities into rubble, armies of tanks and soldiers would wreck havoc on the environment and Shinobi would clandestinely assassination one another from the shadows

And amidst all the death and destruction, Itachi and Akatsuki would stand on the sidelines and watch. It didn't matter to them who "won" the war –by the time a clear victor was decided, Akatsuki's scheme would be too far long for anyone to do anything about it.

"The beginning of the end," whispered Itachi.

* * *

Author's Notes:

We're getting close to the end! Just a few more chapters! Hope you guys are enjoying it!


	75. Chapter 75

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster  
Copyright Stuff: Nothing new here folks. Same as it's always been.

Summary:  
Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter 75: The Plan**

Naruto's mind was an incoherent blur of jumbled thoughts and emotions as he stumbled down the hallway leading away from Sakura's room. In the distance, he could hear the medics yelling at one another as they frantically struggled to save his friend's life, their voices intermingling above the shrill pitch of Sakura's flat lining vital signals. He wanted to turn back and check on Sakura again, to see if by some miracle Shizune and her staff had achieved the impossible, but instead he forced himself to keep moving further and further away.

Tears were still streaming freely down the young shinobi's face, and it took all of his effort just to place one foot in front of the other without collapsing to his knees and bawling like a child. He had one arm up against the wall to support him as he physically forced himself to abandon his friend's side, but even when he closed his eyes, he could still see Sakura's final moments. The way she had looked at him with joy in her eyes, the way she smiled when she had heard Sasuke, her betrayer, was safe –they were seared permanently in his memory and only intensified the crippling guilt that swelled within him.

He had promised to protect Sakura and he had failed.

Naruto pushed past one set of double doors after another until he finally made his way past the crowd of wounded and stepped out into the cold, night air. The sound of sirens still echoed in the air, and countless columns of billowing smoke filled the sky. There was no gunfire, Naruto noticed, though periodically a fresh scream or mournful cry would shatter the silence, reminding him that he was not the only one who had lost someone that night.

It was only once he had taken a deep breath of air did he realize how tired he was. The first glimpses of the sun could be seen casting a gentle glow on the horizons, and it occurred to Naruto that he hadn't slept or eaten in quite some time. The Kyubi could heal any injury and grant him supernatural strength, but Naruto was still very much human and required food and sleep as much as the next shinobi.

He felt guilty about even acknowledging how fatigued he felt. He had the luxury of being tired. Because of him, Sakura would never have the same privilege again.

Naruto had just decided to return back to Sakura's home and get some sleep before deciding what to do next when a voice from behind him called his name.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

For a moment, Naruto thought he was hallucinating. Standing only a few feet away from him was an elderly man wearing a cloak. Half of his face and most of his body was covered in bandages, and he walked towards Naruto with the support of a cane. Despite his feeble appearance, an aura of strength and confidence emanated from him, dispelling any suggestion of weakness or frailty.

"What?" Naruto demanded. He was far too tired to even attempt to be polite.

"My name is Shimura Danzo, the Hokage's head of security and director of military intelligence."

"Really?" Naruto snapped sarcastically. He looked around at the ruined buildings that lined the road leading away from the hospital. Some of them were still smoldering. All of them bore signs of the battle that had taken place only hours earlier. Windows were shattered, walls were burnt and pockmarked with bullet holes and spent shell casings were littered on the street. "You're doing a wonderful job."

"I know you've gone through a great deal tonight, so I'll temporarily excuse your rudeness. " said Danzo patiently. "Our security was compromised by one of our own, a shinobi you might know in fact. Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto nodded. "I know. He told me when I fought him earlier tonight. I have no idea where he is if that's what you're wondering."

"I need you to kill him," said Danzo simply. "I want you to find out where he is and assassinate him."

The young shinobi lifted an eyebrow. That was not what he had been expecting at all. Naruto had indeed been considering ways to find Sasuke and finish the job he had started in the forest, but never in his wildest dreams did he think he would have the Hokage's blessings. "That was the plan."

"What plan?" Danzo asked with an amused smirk. "How did you plan on getting out of the village? How did you plan on tracking your friend? Where were you thinking -"

"I get it," Naruto snapped irritably. "I'll need your help. But answer this: why are you willing to help me? What's in it for you?"

Danzo shrugged. "Hunting down a traitor isn't within the interest of Konoha's head of security?"

"Don't play stupid," Naruto said. "You could use ANBU to find Sasuke if you wanted. I'm a seventeen year old academy student. Why would you give me this mission?"

"Many reasons," Danzo said. "First, the council, particularly the Hokage, does not feel as though Sasuke is priority. They wish to use all our resources, including ANBU, on military operations pertaining to the impending war with Rock and Cloud. As a result, this operation would be completely confidential. No one would know about it except for you and I."

"The second is because I believe Sasuke has incredibly powerful and incredibly intelligent friends. They'll be expecting a team of ANBU and will take necessary precautions to prevent our special forces teams from getting within twenty miles of Sasuke. One motivated shinobi with the Kyubi's powers, on the other hand, stands a much higher chance of slipping through enemy lines, blending in with the local population and remaining undetected."

Naruto glared at Danzo. "And why else?"

Danzo actually smiled, revealing rows of crooked, yellowed teeth. "For all your poor grades in school, Naruto, you're not dumb as I was lead to believe. The main reason I'm giving you this mission is because I need you out of Konoha."

"Why?"

"Why do you think? Within the next few hours it'll become quite apparent that you, my friend, were the target of the Akatsuki..." Danzo smiled again, this time maliciously when he recognized the surprised look on Naruto's face. "Oh yes, I know all about the Akatsuki and their devious little plans."

Naruto didn't even bother to ask him how. As head of Konoha's intelligence network, Danzo probably had spies everywhere.

"Once the villagers find out, the stability of the entire country will be placed in jeopardy. There will be some some who will want you dead immediately, if only to deprive our enemies from obtaining what they desire. I believe your girlfriend's father will be a staunch advocate for this decision." He gave Naruto a sly wink. "Others will want to protect you. For your own safety, they'll insist on keeping you locked up and under close supervision in order to ensure no harm comes to the vessel of such amazing power."

Danzo leaned forward on his cane and looked at Naruto closely. "You see, Naruto. We're at war. I can not afford to have our forces fighting with one another on any issue, particularly one as controversial and divisive as the Kyubi. Our armies are outnumbered by the combined military might of Cloud and Rock and the only chance we have at defeating them is if everyone works harmoniously. You, Naruto, will destroy this harmony, cause discord amongst Konoha's ranks and ultimately doom whatever hope we have of winning this damned war."

Naruto didn't think it was possible for him to feel worse after the events of tonight, but somehow, Danzo's words made him feel like vomiting right then and there. It was bad enough that Naruto felt responsible for the death of his best friend but now Danzo was preparing to pin the responsibility for Konoha's defeat on him as well. It felt like he was ten years old again, a social pariah who was constantly hated and blamed for the destruction that the Kyubi had caused.

And then it dawned on Naruto.

"You don't just want me to leave," said Naruto slowly. "You want to villainize me, don't you? Getting me out of the picture helps, sure, but what you really want is something for the entire village to rally against. And what better than the Kyubi, the creature that threatened the village seventeen years ago?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do." Danzo confirmed. "When you leave the village to hunt for Sasuke, you'll be declared a renegade. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll even be able to convince the council that you were in league with Sasuke to begin with. Think about it, Naruto, you could help Konoha win this war."

"Fuck you," Naruto snarled, turning to walk away from Danzo and his lunacy. He had spent enough of his life being hated; there was no way he would ever allow someone to put him in that position ever again.

"I thought avenging Sakura's death was important to you," Danzo called out after him. "If you walk away from me now, you will never get the chance to get the revenge you so sorely seek."

That was enough to get Naruto to stop. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Say the council decides not to execute you immediately, what do you think is going to happen? Do you honestly think the Hokage would risk sending you out on missions or even leave the village for that matter?" Danzo sniggered cruelly, undoubtedly savoring the conflicted, miserable look on Naruto's face. "You're far too important and far too dangerous to ever unleash you on the battlefield. You'll become nothing more than a wild animal in a cage, trapped while Sakura's murderer walks freely. Is that what you want?"

"Shut up!" Naruto roared. "Just shut the hell up!"

As much as he hated to admit it, Danzo was making a lot of sense. If even half of what Danzo was saying was true or at least not terribly exaggerated, the odds of him being able to orchestrate any sort of revenge mission against Sasuke would be impossible. In fact, once the villagers found out the truth behind the attack on Konoha, he'd probably find himself back in a jail cell again.

"Telling me to shut up doesn't change the reality of your situation," Danzo said. The smile was gone and its place was a mask of unmistakable fury. He reached into his robes and threw a handful of files on the ground at Naruto's feet. "Those documents are all the intelligence we have on Sasuke, his allies and where we think he's going. I'll leave the south gate unguarded for two minutes at approximately 0600 hours. That should be more than enough time for you to slip through."

Naruto stared at the folder on the ground. "And what if I don't want them?"

Danzo gave Naruto a look of disappointment and disgust. "Then evidently you didn't love Sakura as much as you as you thought you did."

Before Naruto had a chance to say anything else, Danzo furled his robes and melted seamlessly into the darkness. It was if he had never been there, taunting Naruto in the streets with the memory of his dead friend. The only remainder of their discussion were the documents resting on the pavement at Naruto's feet, waiting to be picked up and read.

* * *

It didn't take long for the medics to clear most of the students who had been trapped inside Konoha High. Fortunately, the toxins that had seeped inside the gymnasium and rendered everyone unconscious had no long last side effects. This in itself was an oddity that had the village healers scratching their heads in puzzlement. A trained poison maker could have easily added arsenic to the concoction to make both paralyze and kill, but a crucial component had either been mistakenly or intentionally left out. As a result, the majority of the students that had been attending the ball only needed to be treated for minor cuts and bruises were instructed to immediately report home and await further instructions.

The moment Hinata had returned home, her father had immediately made her go to her room and strictly forbade her from leaving the manor until he returned from an emergency meeting with the rest of the village elders. That had been nearly two hours ago and Hinata had spent the time drifting restlessly in and out of sleep by her phone. There were a billion rumors flying around, but with the village still under a strict curfew, calling one another on the phone was the only way to communicate with her friends and find out what was really going on.

No one knew for sure how many people had been killed, for instance. Hinata knew that some had been shot in the attack. Tenten was still in serious condition at the hospital, but fortunately, the healers reported that a bullet that should have killed her had been partially deflected by a kunai she had been smuggling beneath her dress. However, it was rumored that both Shikamaru and Sakura were dead, gunned down in two separate incidents.

Hinata's grip around her phone tightened as she thought about one of her friends getting killed. It was inevitable that they would soon be deployed into battle –they were practically graduates from the academy already – but the very notion of one of her classmates falling in battle seemed impossible. They were just rumors, though, Hinata continued to tell herself. Just rumors.

At least she knew Naruto was safe. One of her classmates had managed to pass on a message to her that she had seen him pass by while they were at the hospital. The news had allowed Hinata a rare sigh of relief. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on between the two of them at the moment -their relationship was beyond turbulent, both chaotic and unpredictable. One moment they were sharing hot chocolate at a cafe, the next they were kissing in the sewers beneath her house. Maybe, just maybe once things returned to normal she might be able to see him again and work out the feelings they had for one another.

The thought of seeing Naruto again made her smile. However, her happiness was short lived when the phone began ringing. A cold chill crawled down her back. Was someone she knew dead? She knew Neji was also safe, but that still left a number of her friends and family unaccounted for. Fearing the worst, she picked it up. "Hello?"

"Miss Hyuga?" a garbled voice on the other end asked.

"Yes?" Hinata answered.

"Naruto wants to meet you at the south at 6 a.m. Come alone."

"What did you say?" she asked.

"6 a.m. South gate. Naruto will be waiting for you." the voice repeated. Before Hinata could ask anything more, the line went dead.

For several moments, Hinata could stare wordlessly at her phone. She slowly placed it back down on her desk, her mind a blur as she tried to make sense of the cryptic message. Why would Naruto want to meet her so late at night? What could possibly be so important that he was asking her to break curfew to see him? More importantly, though, why had he been disguising his voice on the phone?

It occurred to Hinata that this could be some kind of trap. They were at war now, she reminded herself, and it was entirely possible that this was a ploy to lure Hinata away from her home" so they could kidnap or even kill her. She was the heir to the Hyuga estate after all, one of Konoha's most powerful families.

Still, according to the news reports that were flashing on screen every few minutes, the Hokage was confident that all the invaders had been killed or apprehended and that the village was now completely under their control. Technically speaking, there was no place under heavier guard than the gates leading in and out of Konoha. If someone was really planning on ambushing her, the city gates would probably be the last place an assailant would choose.

And then there was her father's stern warning not to even think about leaving the house until he returned...

"Screw it," Hinata muttered. Grabbing her equipment satchel from beside her desk, she carefully peaked her head outside to make sure none of her servants were awake and stealthily walked downstairs to her mansion's front door.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Thank you to everyone who's been reading this story! We're only two chapters away from the end of A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School (three counting the epilogue), but there may be a sequel somewhere down the road. The story will definitely end with a lot of stuff unresolved, but I need to take things one step at a time and seriously consider the future of my writing before I commit to anything. Thank you again to everyone who has supported this fanfic –it's almost done!


	76. Chapter 76

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: Nothing new here folks. Same as it's always been.

Summary:  
Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Konoha High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter 76: Imperfect Goodbyes**

Hinata had spent years watching Naruto from a distance, quietly observing the boy she loved so dearly from her hiding place behind a tree or through the branches of a nearby bush. It had began during their second year of middle school. All the girls in her class, Hinata included, had been caught up in the grasps of puberty and were madly infatuated with one boy or another. Uchiha Sasuke was a popular choice, but Hinata found her attention repeatedly returning to the one boy in their year that no other girl dared to even look at much less confess any attraction towards.

His name, Sakura had told her in a hushed whisper so as to not be overhead by any of the class' ruthless gossips, was Uzumaki Naruto. Everyone hated him, but few could give a reason why exactly when pressed for an answer. He was an orphan, he was poor, he acted like an idiot during class and got poor marks on his test –abstract reasons that failed to convince Hinata that the strange, blond-haired boy who sat by himself during lunch was not worthy of her affection.

In fact, it was the stigma that surrounded Naruto that she found fascinating. Perhaps as a result, she found herself involuntarily watching him out of the corner of her eye whenever their paths crossed during recess, lunch or in between classes.

It was only until last year did Hinata finally summon the courage to actually speak with Naruto. Up until then, she had contented herself with watching him from afar, too scared to confront him. The other girls knew she had a crush on him, but what would they say if she actually acted on her feelings? Worse, what if Naruto rejected her? Hinata didn't think she could stand the humiliation.

She allowed herself a small smile at the memory as she peered through the branches of a nearby bush that lined the walkway near the city gates. Remaining concealed was a necessity. Should any of the city guard spot her, they would undoubtedly have her arrested and promptly shipped back to the Hyuga estate. As uncomfortable as it was remaining crouched amid the prickling and scratching foliage, she knew it was best to stay hidden until Naruto arrived.

At first Hinata didn't even recognize Naruto when he walked down the stone path leading towards the city gates. His normal attire was gone, replaced with the military fatigues and flack jacket of a Chunin or Jounin, and his blond hair had been dyed jet black. What was more shocking to Hinata, though, was his demeanor. The normal buoyant smile and mischievous glint in his eyes were gone; in its stead was an exhausted look of utter dejection. His eyes were blood shot and swollen, as if he had been crying, and his muscles shook involuntarily as he approached the gate.

Hinata was about to step out from the bushes and call out to Naruto, but suddenly a heavy hand gripped her shoulder. Alarmed, she whirled around, prepared to scream. But then she noticed who the hand belonged to and whatever cries of protest she was preparing instantly died in her throat. Her heart dropped and a cold chill of dread descended down her spine.

"F-father..." stammered Hinata. "W-what are you doing here?"

Hyuga Hiashi glared at his daughter and gestured for her to be quiet. He pointed towards Naruto and whispered, "Watch."

With no other option but to obey her father, Hinata peered back through the bushes and silently observed Naruto as he looked up at the towering city gates.

* * *

Although Naruto didn't trust Danzo, he had to admit that the shadowy Shinobi had been true to his word so far. As promised, the city gates were unguarded and Naruto was free to approach them without being stopped. However, this reassurance did very little to calm his nerves.

Then again, Naruto mused to himself as his gaze traveled up the massive, steel gates protecting Konoha, not much would at this point. He was about ready to abandon his village and become a fugitive from justice. And for what? To venture out in the dangerous unknown to hunt down his former friend who had only hours earlier nearly killed him?

It wasn't an attractive proposition, and Naruto took solace in the fact that anyone in his unfortunate position would be equally as nervous.

He had been in some serious trouble during high school, but never had he done anything as criminal as he was about to. At best, he would be permanently exiled from the village. At worst, the Hokage would order ANBU to hunt him down and assassinate him.

Would it be worth it?

It was a question Naruto had asked himself a hundred times as he prepared for his journey, but each time he always came up with the same answer. As he hastily cut his hair using a kunai, he remembered Sakura's dying words. As he dyed his hair using whatever cosmetics he had scrounged up in the Haruno's cabinet, he thought of how callously Sasuke had betrayed the woman he loved. As he threw his meager belongings into his backpack, all he could think about was how he had failed to uphold his promise to protect Sakura.

Naruto reached into his pocket and withdrew one of the maps Danzo had given him. It contained directions to a river crossing that was almost one hundred miles to the north. Once he got to the other side, it would take him another three days before he had to face the challenge of sneaking across the border into neighboring territory.

Even getting there, though, would not be easy. By noon, Danzo would alert the village that Naruto had run away. Whether or not the Hokage would send Shinobi after him was unknown, but Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to risk leaving any traces for them to follow. That meant he would have to stay off the roads and avoid villages along the way. Once he left the comfort and familiarity of Konoha, he would be completely on his own.

He exhaled deeply. There was one more thing he had to do before he left.

Reaching up to his forehead, he carefully untied his headband. Looking at his reflection in the metal plate, Naruto fondly recalled the first time he had received his. For years Naruto had dreamed of being able to wear one, to proudly bear the emblem of a Konoha Shinobi, but the entrance exams into Konoha High had been a nightmare. He had been certain that he had failed it and would be doomed to attend normal high school with the other villagers, so when his headband arrived in the mail, he had been ecstatic.

Oh how long ago that seemed now...

Smiling sadly, Naruto opened his hand and allowed the forehead protector to slip through his fingers and fall to the ground. He stared at it for a few moments, tears forming in his eyes as the magnitude of what he had just done set in, but then he took a deep breath and forced himself to look away. He was abandoning the village; he no longer had the right to wear the headband of a Shinobi.

The forehead protector was a symbol of the ninja. It was what defined them, what separated them from the villagers they had sworn their lives to defend.

The cool winter breeze whipped through his hair; the cool air felt uncomfortably foreign against his bare forehead.

After glancing back at the village he loved so dearly one final time, Naruto walked towards the city gate, completely obviousness to the distraught Shinobi watching him with tears in her eyes.

* * *

"W-what is he doing?" Hinata demanded to her father. "Why is he leaving?"

When her father didn't respond right away, Hinata attempted to jump out of her hiding place and get Naruto's attention. However, before she could even take a step, Hiashi roughly grabbed her shoulder and clamped his hands over her mouth. Hinata knew better to struggle. If her father didn't want her to do something, he wouldn't hesitate to use force to stop her.

Hinata could only watch in horror as Naruto dropped his headband and slipped out through the city gates. The metal door slammed shut with an ominous thud that caused Hinata's entire body to tremble, and just like that, Naruto was gone.

It was only then did Hiashi release his grip on his daughter.

"What the hell is going on?" Hinata shouted. "Where is he going?"

"To seek revenge against Sasuke for murdering Sakura, I imagine."

Hinata gasped. "S-Sakura is dead?" She had heard rumors that Sakura was one of the students critically injured in the attack, but never for a moment had Hinata ever thought that her friend had actually been killed.

"Haruno Sakura is still being operated on and probably won't survive the night," Hiashi said coolly, his voice completely devoid of any indication that he actually cared about his daughter's classmate's critical condition. "Naruto presumed she was already dead and is now setting out with the delusion that he'll be able to hunt down her murderer and exact revenge."

"Why would he even think that?" Hinata asked. "Naruto isn't like that!"

"You don't know Naruto as well as you think you do," replied Hiashi. "An evil darkness lurks within him and there's no telling what he's capable of. It's perfectly believable that he's the young, nice boy that you think he is, but with the Kyubi influencing his decisions, he could very well be a serious threat to the village should the demon ever entirely corrupt him."

"I don't believe that for a minute," Hinata snapped.

Hiashi shrugged. "What you believe is unimportant. I did what was necessary for the security of Konoha."

"So it was you that gave Naruto the idea to leave!" the young Shinobi shouted accusingly at her father. "You're the one who planted such a ridiculous notion in his head!"

"Danzo did actually, but I suggested it, I'll admit," Hiashi confessed without the slightest bit of remorse of shame.

"He's going to get himself killed out there!"

Hinata's blood turned to ice as she realized how true that statement was. The outside world was dangerous enough during a time of peace, but before long the entire countryside would be torn apart by the war. Battles would not take place in some distant country far removed from home; it would take place right on their front doorstep. The smoldering ruins of Konoha behind her was evidence enough of that. Naruto could get caught right in the middle of it all without anyone to save him should he need help.

"That's very possible," the elder Hyuga agreed. "In fact, that would be ideal."

"It was you who called me tonight and told me to meet Naruto," Hinata said flatly. "Why?"

"Because I wanted you to see the truth, Hinata," Hiashi replied, not even bothering to deny her accusations. "Naruto is, and never will be, right for you. He's a monster, an abomination, and tonight he chose to desert not only you but the entire village. And for what? To seek revenge for another girl."

There was a ring of truth to her father's words, but Hinata wasn't listening. She didn't care what her father had to say. Not now and not ever again. She had always known that Hiashi Hyuga was a cruel and manipulative, but deep down inside, Hinata thought he might actually be nurturing some fatherly affection for her. The truth, however, couldn't be any more clearer now. How could a father who genuinely loved her callously cause so much grief and pain?

"I hate you," she snarled through clenched teeth, "and I'll never forgive you for what you've done."

It was the most honest Hinata had ever been to her father. She had spent her entire life stoically absorbing his rebukes and criticism, silently bearing every injustice the elder Hyuga had ever done her. Finally have the rage needed to speak her true feelings was liberating.

Hiashi's cold, emotionless features never wavered. He simply nodded, turned and stalked off into the distance until the night's darkness consumed him.

Hinata stepped out from behind the bushes, walked over to where Naruto's forehead protector had fallen on the concrete and picked it up. She caressed the headband, savoring the warmth that still lingered in the fabric, and then with a meaningful glare in the direction where Hiashi had disappeared, she carefully folded it and stowed it away inside her jacket pocket.

Her father hated her...

The village was at war...

Sakura was dead...

She might never see Naruto again...

Hinata looked up at the dark, night sky and wondered pitifully: if there was a god somewhere up there, was he looking down at her and laughing?

* * *

Author's Notes:

Just one more chapter (and then the epilogue!) Hope you guys are enjoying reading! We're getting near the end, so if you haven't had a chance to drop off a review, be sure to do so if you feel like it. It makes me happy. Thanks again for reading and Happy Holidays!


	77. Chapter 77

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: Nothing new here folks. Same as it's always been.

Summary:

Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter 77: In My Perfect World (Part One)**

Naruto was late. But then again, thought Sakura with an annoyed scowl that momentarily darkened her cheerful demeanor, that was hardly anything new for her lazy, pathetic excuse for a childhood friend. Since the day she had started walking with him to school almost twelve years ago when they first started attending the academy in kindergarten, Sakura couldn't recall once when he had actually been waiting for her when she rang the door bell to pick him up in the morning. More often than not she would discover him still fast asleep underneath his covers, and it would take a severe beating from Sakura to get the irresponsible Shinobi moving with any semblance of urgency.

She rang the doorbell to Naruto's home again, tapping her foot impatiently as she glanced up at the dark clouds that hovered ominously overhead. If it started raining on the way to school because she had to wait for Naruto, she would be severely pissed. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but she would be damned if she showed up to school with her brand new, back-to-school outfit soaked because of that idiot. Ino and her other girlfriends never passed up an opportunity to tease her mercilessly, and the last thing Sakura wanted was to start off her senior year with a major embarrassment.

After all, what would Sasuke think...

Sakura was so busy dreading what Uchiha Sasuke, the academy's resident heart throb, might think of her that she didn't notice right away when the door opened. A pretty woman with bright crimson hair poked her head out and smiled warmly when she spotted Sakura.

"Oh, hello, dear," she said, opening the door wider and motioning for Sakura to enter. "I'm sorry for the wait –I was just serving breakfast. Would you like to join us? I made pancakes."

"No thank you, Mrs. Namikaze," Sakura said, returning Naruto's mothers smile. "We're running late for our first day at school as it is."

Namikaze clicked her tongue and shot a dark glance down the hallway where Naruto's room was. "I woke him up over an hour ago. Knowing him he probably went back to bed..."

Just then, a barely visible blur of color streaked past the two women, causing Sakura to jump back in alarm. It zoomed around the room, hopping from one spot to the next with such speed that it caused the lights overhead to sway and stray pages from the morning newspaper to scatter through the air. It was only when it actually paused for a moment at the head of the dining table that Sakura noticed what –no, who it was.

"Namikaze Minato!" Mrs. Namikaze roared, her arms crossed and an unmistakably irritated look on her face. "How many times have I told you before: no powers in the house!"

Namikaze Minato, one of the most decorated and respected Shinobi in the village, gave his wife a sheepish, apologetic smile. "Sorry, dear. I'm late for my meeting with the Hokage and I was hoping to grab breakfast before I left."

"You could at least say 'hello' to our guest," Naruto's mother said crossly.

"T-that's alright, he doesn't have to," muttered Sakura, blushing a brilliant shade of crimson that almost matched her rosy hair.

Everyone knew who Naruto's father was. He was a war hero who had become the thing of legends for being able to move so fast that his enemies only saw a blur of yellow before they found their throats slit. He was active on the village council and it was rumored that he would be elected to Konoha's next Hokage once the current Hokage retired later this year.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Sakura," said Minato, his voice muffled by the thick stack of pancakes crammed in his mouth. "Can you make sure Naruto gets to school? Thanks and good luck!"

Faster than the eye could see, he raced out the door. A second later, he dashed back in, gave his wife a roguish wink and kissed her on the cheek. "I'll be home late tonight, honey. Don't wait up."

And then he was gone again.

"Oh that husband of mine," Mrs. Namikaze snorted. She was still glowering darkly as she packed up a huge stack of pancakes into two lunch sacks (one with Naruto's name and the other with Sakura's), but Sakura knew how proud she was of everything that he had accomplished. The entire village was. Without Naruto's father's contributions to the development and safety of the entire country, it was highly likely that Konoha would not be enjoying such an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity.

"What's all the ruckus?" Naruto asked with a loud yawn as he strolled into the dining room. His blond, tussled hair still showed signs of bed head, and Sakura was willing to bet anything that the hideous, yellow and blue jumpsuit he was currently wearing was the exact same one that he had been sporting all weekend.

It never ceased to astound Sakura that a sloppy, lazy oaf like Naruto could be the son of a Shinobi as great, wise and powerful as his father. The two were spitting images of one another, both boyishly handsome with untamed, spiky blond hair, but while one was responsible for maintaining the stability of Konoha, the other's greatest accomplishment was nearly getting expelled from Konoha High for putting frogs in the girls' bathroom.

"You're late!" Sakura yelled. "It's our first day of school! Don't you care if we end up getting detention for missing class?"

"Not really," said Naruto. He opened his lunch bag and peeked into it. "Ooh are those pancakes? We have time to eat them before we go, don't we Saku-"

"Moron!" shouted Sakura, slapping Naruto on the back of his head. "We need to go now!"

"Ouch, fine, fine," Naruto whined, massaging the area where Sakura had hit him. "Alright, mom, looks like the wicked witch of the –hey, ouch stop hitting me, Sakura!"

Mrs. Namikaze laughed as Sakura repeatedly punched Naruto in the arm. "You'd better hurry, Naruto. You'll be in deep trouble if you get detention tonight. We have a dinner arrangement with the Hyuga family scheduled for this evening."

"With who?" Naruto asked.

"You know, that family that moved in to that large mansion across town," replied Naruto's mother. "Supposedly they have a teenage boy and girl your age. In fact, they might even be going to Konoha High."

"Oh, terrific," Naruto snorted sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Mom, I had plans tonight to go hang out with Shikamaru and -"

"They've been canceled."

"But mom!" Naruto protested.

"Go to school, Naruto!" snapped Mrs. Namikaze. "And tell Instructor Kakashi that I'll be visiting Rin later this week with some of your old clothes. I know they're expecting their baby any day now..."

Naruto rolled his eyes again and gestured to Sakura towards the door. Once they were outside and the door was closed behind them, Naruto sneered. "Wonderful. Just wonderful. It's not even noon yet and my day is already ruined."

Sakura ignored Naruto and started walking down the street. It was about a mile journey to Konoha High; a brisk stroll would put them at the front gates in under fifteen minutes. While she had no desire to be late and land in after school detention with Naruto, she didn't want to show up too early either and appear too eager for the first day of school. Ino and the other girls would call her a big nerd and tease her relentlessly until they found someone else to pick on. Sakura couldn't risk that – what if Sasuke happened to be standing nearby and decided that Ino was right and that she, Haruno Sakura, was totally not cool and undeserving of his attention?

A cool breeze of spring air whipped through her long strands of pink air, bringing with it the sweet scent of the cherry blossom trees that were blooming alongside the road. A stray petal floated through the air and landed on Sakura's outstretched fingertip. She smiled, wistfully thinking of how wonderful it would be if Sasuke was walking beside her, his hands wrapped tightly around hers as they strolled to class. She sighed sadly as another gust of wind sent the flower adrift and her attention returned to the actual boy she had the distinct misfortune of escorting to class.

Whenever Sakura turned her back on Naruto, he would automatically start doing the exact opposite of what he was supposed to, as if he were a five-year old with an attention disorder. Naturally, she spotted Naruto several yards behind her digging through a rain gutter, undoubtedly looking for large rocks or disgusting bugs to throw at underclassmen.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, startling Naruto who gave her the embarrassed look of a child caught doing something wrong. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

Naruto shrugged, and Sakura was severely tempted to slap him again. However, hitting Naruto seldom yielded any beneficial results. In fact, it only seemed to encourage him to act more obnoxious than usual. Instead, she scowled darkly at him and stalked off, confident that the cold treatment would put her childhood friend back in order. Like a misbehaving puppy, all it took was a little tough love in order to curb Naruto's mischievous streak.

Sure enough, Naruto subsided into silence and fell in behind her. The rest of their walk to school went by uneventfully, and fifteen minutes later, the towering steel gates of Konoha High appeared on the horizon.

"Remember, don't get detention or your mom will be pissed," Sakura reminded Naruto.

"Yes, mother," replied Naruto sarcastically.

Sakura snorted and stalked off towards where Ino and some of the other girls in her class were sitting at a lunch table. That boy was absolutely incorrigible; she honestly didn't know why she bothered sometimes.

While Sakura went over to gossip with her friends, Naruto headed in the opposite direction towards where his friends were loitering on the bleachers. Shikamaru and Choji were playing chess (Shikamaru was at least; Choji seemed more focused on decimating the half dozen bento boxes in front of him), Kyo was idly flipping through a deck of rigged cards, Kiba was flirting with a group of junior girls who had stopped to admire his dog, Akamaru, and Sasuke was glowering intensely at something across the school yard.

"Hey, did you hear we're getting some transfer students?" Naruto asked Sasuke as he plopped down besides him.

Sasuke only grunted, still glaring hatefully into the distance.

"I think one of them is a girl. You think she's cute?"

Again, another grunt.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What are you so moody about? You act like someone just murdered your family or something."

"Itachi," said Sasuke with a sneer. He pointed towards a very fancy and very expensive sports car that was parked on the edge of campus. A large flock of students, mostly girls, had gathered around it, and standing at the center of the mob was a tall, young, raven-haired man that even Naruto had to admit was incredibly good looking.

"Oh," Naruto replied. "Your brother."

He knew Sasuke and his older brother didn't get along, and Naruto couldn't really blame him. Itachi was only a few years older than Sasuke, but while Sasuke was merely a prodigiously gifted student with perfect grades, Itachi's exploits were still the thing of legend around Konoha High. Everyone knew who he was –he had no less than two dozen plaques and trophies displayed in the hallways commemorating his many accomplishments during his time as a student.

Uchiha Itachi had been president of the student body, a Hokage's List scholar, captain of the school's champion-winning Capture the Flag squad, and holder of numerous records that no student had come even close to beating. Upon graduation, there had been no shortage of incredibly lucrative career paths open to him, but the young Uchiha had instead elected to enlist directly into ANBU. He made captain and was given his own squad in just two years, and was currently responsible for the apprehension and elimination of some of Konoha's most notorious criminals.

In short, Itachi was a celebrity. All the teachers adored him, all the girls loved him and all the guys envied him. Especially Sasuke. Naruto didn't have any siblings, but he had to imagine growing up in the shadow of such a prestigious brother was more than a little irritating. The fact that teachers regularly made comments like, "Sasuke, you remind me so much of your brother" or "Sasuke, you're going to grow up to be just like Itachi," probably didn't help matters either.

"I didn't realize he was in town," Naruto commented.

"Yeah, he got off on leave and wanted to surprise mom and dad," Sasuke said, not sounding the least bit thrilled by the unexpected turn of events. "They were excited alright. Threw a party and everything for him last night. Entire clan showed up to celebrate. Even Uncle Sato and Aunt Megumi and they don't even live in the village!"

The unmentioned statement was, of course, that Sasuke's parents had never thrown _him _a party like that, even when he had finished his junior year with the highest grades in class. "Good job," they probably had said, "You're following right in your brother's footsteps!"

"Oh shit, here he comes," Sasuke muttered.

Sure enough, Itachi was walking towards them, an entourage of giggling female students following close behind.

"Hey, little brother," Itachi said with a warm smile. "What's up, Naruto?"

"Hey Itachi," Naruto said, shaking Itachi's hand firmly. Sasuke only grunted.

"Aw, is little bro not happy to see his big brother?" Itachi teased. The girls looked at one another uncertainly, torn between which of their two idols they should shower with sycophantic praise.

"Get lost, Itachi," the younger Uchiha snapped.

"Like the wheels?" Itachi dangled a pair of keys in front of his brother's face. "Dad gave it to me as a gift last night."

"He what?" Sasuke shouted, staring incredulously at the sleek, sexy automobile shimmering in the morning sun. "B-but that had to cost a fortune! How come he gave you that? He won't even get me a junk car to practice with!"

Itachi snorted. "Maybe if you captured two S-ranked criminals in a week mom and dad might give you something nice too. Sorry, kiddo, getting straight A's won't get you a sports car."

He extended the keys to Sasuke. "You want to drive it home? Maybe one of the girls might actually think it's yours and will be impressed enough to go on a date with you. Well, until she sees your face at least. Then she might change her mind."

"Go screw yourself," The younger of the two Uchiha brothers snarled, slapping away Itachi's hand.

"How about you, Naruto? You got your license, right?" Itachi offered.

"Sure!" Naruto exclaimed with a huge smile. Sasuke shot him an ugly look. "Oh, I mean, it's cool, Itachi. Thanks anyway."

Just then, the school bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. All around the school yard, students gathered their backpacks and started making their way towards the high school's main building.

"We got to run, Itachi," said Naruto. They shook hands again. "It was good seeing you again."

"You too, Naruto. Be sure to say 'hello' to your parents for me. I've been meaning to talk to your dad –I need his opinion on a case ANBU is working on."

"Let's go," Sasuke growled, coldly ignoring Itachi's offer to hug. Itachi laughed. When he was sure Itachi was out of ear shot, he glared at Naruto. "Some friend you are. You're a goddamn traitor, you know that?"

"What?" exclaimed Naruto. "Just because you hate your brother doesn't mean I need to. He's a nice guy."

"You just like him because he offered to let you drive his sports car." Sasuke spat. "You whore."

Naruto only grinned as the two friends walked through the front doors of Konoha, ready to start their first day back at school.

Their first lesson of the day was Advanced Ninja Camouflage and Deception. It was taught by Instructor Tsunade, a busty blond who allegedly used all manner of potions and incredibly complex Shinobi techniques to maintain the illusion that she was only thirty instead of fifty. The class was already packed by the time Sasuke and Naruto arrived, and they quickly found a pair of desks in the back of the room.

"Settle down, class, settle down," Instructor Tsunade said unnecessarily. In a different teacher's lesson, the senior class would be as loud and unruly as they pleased until the instructor threatened to use force to subdue their rowdy students. Not so with Tsunade. The Legendary Jounin's supernatural strength and quick temper was not to be trifled with, and, as a result, every student in Konoha paid her exceptional respect. It was also widely rumored that she had broken a student's jaw last year when she caught him cheating on a final exam.

"Before we begin class, I need to introduce a new student. So, please give a warm, Konoha High welcome to Hyuga Hinata."

A girl with long, blue hair and the prettiest eyes Naruto had ever seen stood up near the front of the class. She smiled shyly at the class and waved nervously. "H-hello," she said in a timid voice. "My name is Hinata. My family just moved to Konoha. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The class mumbled an unenthusiastic "hello" and Hinata quickly sat down, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Thank you, Hinata." Tsunade said. "I know it's your first day here, so if you have any questions, just ask me or another student. I'm sure they'll be more than helpful." She shot the classroom a murderous look, as if to say, "you'll be helpful...or else."

Tsunade opened her teacher's book and began the lesson, but Naruto wasn't paying attention. Normally, he would be doodling in his notebook or trying to peek up girls' skirts, but not this time. He was leaning across his desk, his mouth wide open, staring intently at the blue-haired girl who had just introduced herself.

"What's the matter with you?" Sasuke asked. "You're going to get us in trouble."

"That girl," whispered Naruto.

"What about her?"

"S-she's..gorgeous!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Sorry, ONE more chapter now and then the epilogue before the end. Didn't expect this to be a two parter but I just kept on writing and suddenly I ended with like 3,000 words. Part Two will probably be here sometime after New Years.

Until then, thanks for reading and Happy Holidays! Thanks for reading!


	78. Chapter 78

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: Nothing new here, folks. Same as it's always been.

Summary: Slightly AU- High school is tough, but it gets a lot tougher when a demonic fox lives inside you and all your friends are ninjas. It's a world of angst, rivalries, friendships and romance inside the halls of Kohona High, but outside, trouble is brewing. A dangerous world awaits them after graduation…assuming they all don't kill each other first.

**Chapter 78: In My Perfect World (Part Two)**

Naruto awoke with a start and had to suppress a curse when he banged his head against the top of the sewage pipe that he had crammed himself in to sleep for a few hours. He scowled and readjusted himself so that his back wasn't so awkwardly contorted, but found that there really was no comfortable position inside the stinky, cramped confines of a drainage ditch. Naruto sighed deeply and blinked his eyes a few times in order to adjust them to the darkness. The sun had already set and in an hour or so it would be dark enough to travel safely on the open road once again.

He glanced down at his watch and noticed that he had actually managed to sleep for a couple of hours. It had not been a restful one, though.

Ever since Naruto had left the walls of Konoha three days ago, his sleep had been plagued by the same dream of a perfect world where no tragedies had befallen him. Sakura and his parents were alive, Sasuke was his friend, the village was at peace, and there was no demonic fox living inside him to complicate his life. It was a blissful paradise that, unfortunately, only existed within Naruto's dreams, and there was no comfort in visiting it every time he fell asleep. If anything, it taunted him, teasing with a wonderful, Utopian existence Naruto knew he would never have.

_In my perfect world..._

Naruto shifted his weight around so he could reach inside his backpack and retrieved one of the few food pills that he had stolen from the Haruno's home before he left. He popped it inside his mouth and chewed on it briefly before swallowing with a discontented frown. The pills were tasteless and did little to satisfy the growling in his stomach, but through the miracles of science, he knew they would replenish his body with all the nutrients they needed in order to keep functioning at optimal capacity for the next few hours.

It was still too dangerous to go out and forage for food, even at night. Twice already he had almost run into a squad of ANBU that he suspected were on the look out for him. They hadn't given any indication that he was their quarry, but it seemed odd to find a band of elite ninjas patrolling the rural countryside for no other apparent reason. Because of that, Naruto had stuck to traveling at night, electing to spend the day time tucked away in whatever hiding place he could find. Sometimes he was lucky and found an empty farmhouse or dilapidated warehouse to sleep in. Other times, though, he had to make do with whatever was available.

It was too risky to enter into one of the many small villages that Naruto had walked past since leaving Konoha. Word of his defection had undoubtedly spread by now and the local law enforcement would have his face memorized. Not until he crossed the border would he safe enough to try and purchase supplies or sleep at an inn. Not that it mattered, of course. Naruto had precious little money in his frog-shaped purse that he knew he would have to save in the event of an emergency.

Naruto's hair was matted with grease and his clothes were uncomfortable from having lived in them for the last couple days without washing them. He hadn't thought of bringing a change of clothes with him, and it was entirely out of the question to stop and bathe in a lake or river. What would happen if a villager happened to stumble upon him when he was naked? He imagined making his escape would become even more difficult if he had to try and slip through Konoha's security net in the nude. Assuming he didn't catch pneumonia from the cold and die first, of course.

He wrapped his flak jacket tighter around him and shivered, his teeth chattering involuntarily as the cold, winter air seeped into his makeshift home. It was at times like these that he questioned his sanity, wondering how he could have been so stupid to leave the warmth and safety of Konoha for his current predicament. He could be at home right now, sitting in front of a warm fire with Hinata, chowing down on a humongous bowl of delicious Ramen. Instead, he was miles away from anyone he could call a friend, ANBU was searching for him, he was freezing and starving, and he was pretty sure he had spent the last several hours sleeping in frozen feces.

All in all he was miserable.

On more than one occasion Naruto had contemplated going home and facing whatever punishment awaited him. Surely the Hokage would be forgiving, willing to write off his flight as a moment of temporary craziness brought on by the death of a close friend. Whenever he was about to give up, though, he thought of the look Sasuke had given him right before he pulled the trigger and killed Sakura. The memory made his blood boil; it reminded him exactly why his sacrifice and discomfort was insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Sasuke needed to be killed for what he did, and Naruto was the only one who could do something about it. He had made a promise to Sakura, and now it was time for him to honor his word.

Still, the first couple nights Naruto had cried himself to sleep. He was scared and all alone in a world that suddenly seemed a lot bigger and scarier than it did from inside the walls of Konoha, and the odds of him accomplishing his objective seemed impossible at times. What if he couldn't pick up Sasuke's trace once he crossed the border and it all ended up being a huge waste of time? What if he ended up getting killed before he could get his revenge?

Eventually, Naruto had come to terms with his new situation and could now fall asleep without the whimpering and sobbing, but the lingering doubt in his mind was as present as ever.

_What the hell have you gotten us into? _The Kyubi would often whisper, his sneering voice a constant, annoying hiss in his ear. _You're going to get us both killed over some dumb girl? _

Naruto cautiously stuck his head out of the sewer pipe and took a deep breath. After hours of inhaling the rancid stench of sewage, the taste of cool, clean air was an absolute godsend. He slowly slithered out, his eyes scanning the darkness for anyone who might be traveling past, and then retrieved his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

He had another long night of hiking ahead of him if he wanted to reach the border before morning. Once he reached the heavily guarded checkpoint, that was when the real fun would begin.

There would be many more challenges and dangers awaiting him if he managed to get past this obstacle, of that Naruto was certain. But no matter what perils were lurking further down the path, he would face them all without hesitation.

Uzumaki Naruto allowed himself a small smile before venturing on once again into the unknown.

* * *

A month ago, Yamato had been an instructor at Konoha High, happily teaching students about the wonderful art of botany and how Shinobi could channel their chakra to manipulate it. Years before that he had been an ANBU commando, one of the best at espionage and clandestine assassinations due to his proclivity for making targeted kills look like random natural disasters. However, a lingering knee issue had prompted an early retirement. He had found the tranquility of being an unassuming teacher unnerving at first, largely due to the fact that he no longer had to worry about spies putting poison in his drinks, but he had quickly grown accustomed to his new life of molding young minds.

But now he was back, clad in the full armor and face mask of an ANBU member. The war had quickly escalated from random skirmishes along the border into full blown military confrontations all over the country, and Konoha now needed every ninja they could get to fight. Even the students had been effected. The academy was only open to the youngsters; Konoha High was temporarily suspended as most of its older students and instructors were conscripted shortly after the war broke out.

He tugged uncomfortably at his pants, lamenting that perhaps he had put on a few unwanted pounds since he had retired. Fortunately, he knew for a fact that his skills hadn't diminished in the slightest. Yamato was as deadly as ever, and he felt pity for the first enemy soldier who had the balls to test him.

"Sure you'll be able to keep up with us?" teased Kakashi. His face was hidden behind an ornate cat mask, but his spiky, silver hair was unmistakable.

"Worry about yourself," retorted Yamato with a grin. "Teaching hasn't made us all soft, you know?"

Kakashi chuckled and passed him a small, yellow book. "The bingo book got updated. Make sure you look it over before we deploy."

Yamato nodded and quickly flipped through Konoha's list of most wanted. Names like Uchiha Itachi he was already familiar with, though he noticed there were several new listings as well. A handful of the confirmed members of Akatsuki, the terrorist organization that had orchestrated the attack on Konoha, were new additions.

At the back of the book, though, Yamato spotted two pictures and names that he was disappointed to recognize. Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Renegade Shinobi. Wanted: Dead or Alive. Class A.

"Sasuke and Naruto, huh?" Yamato said. Both boys had taken one of his classes during their freshman year. Sasuke was quiet but brilliant, a hard worker who passed his class with perfect marks. Naruto, on the other hand, Yamato remembered being absolutely horrible. He had spent the entire semester screwing around and throwing dirt at the girls. "Did you ever teach them, Captain Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded but didn't elaborate, and Yamato chose not to pry any further.

Just then, two Shinobi walked towards them. One was a towering giant of a man who had a sword strapped across his back. Half of his face was covered in bandages and there were countless scars adorning every inch of his tanned flesh. By his side was an incredibly thin, feminine looking young man dressed in a green kimono.

"Kakashi," the man said, his voice little more than a muffled grunt beneath his mask.

"Zabuza," Kakashi replied. He pointed at Zabuza's partner. Or, more specifically, at his companion's chest "Weren't you a girl the last time I saw you, Haku?"

Haku smiled cheerfully, not the least bit insulted by Kakashi's words. "I can be many things when the situation calls for it, Captain Kakashi."

A long, awkward moment of silence passed between the two group of ninjas before Zabuza motioned Haku to follow him and walked away. Yamato exhaled deeply, relieved that their brief confrontation had not resulted in violence.

Zabuza and Haku were both former renegade Shinobi from the Hidden Mist Village, and Yamato knew that Kakashi had spent a considerable part of his career hunting them down. In fact, according to a detailed report from a few months back, Kakashi had recently battled with both during a routine mission gone horribly awry.

Mist Village, however, needed Shinobi as badly as Konoha and her other allies, especially ones as battle hardened and talented as Haku and Zabuza. The death sentence that had been issued on the renegade duo years ago had been immediately revoked, and after the two vowed fidelity once again to their village, they were issued pardons and promptly recommissioned as Jounin class Shinobi in Mist's ANBU special forces.

Kakashi had not been pleased in the slightest when he heard the news that Mist's ANBU squad would be assisting Konoha with their current assignment, but there was little he or anyone else could do about it. They were being deployed on missions without enough supplies and personnel to carry them out more often than not. Having two additional skilled, lethal killers on their team would only be an asset, regardless of their previous affiliations.

War certainly made strange bed fellows.

Yamato picked up his rucksack and tested the weight on his back. He had a long march ahead of him; the least he could do was make sure he was at least somewhat comfortable during their journey.

They were being sent to the front to help bolster some of their units on the border. Ever since the invasion that had badly damaged Konoha, conflicts between the warring nations had been surprisingly few and far between. A handful of skirmishes had sprung up throughout the countryside, but aside from random casualties reported by patrols every few days, no major engagements had broken out. The peace was nice, but the Hokage feared that this was just the calm before the storm.

It was only a matter of time before more blood was spilled. Their enemies might have drawn first blood with their underhanded assault on Konoha, but it was only a matter of time before Konoha and her allies returned the favor.

"Alpha Squad, let's move out," Kakashi barked.

Yamato motioned for the ANBU commandos behind him to follow his lead, and together, the armies of Konoha and Mist marched through the city gates and into the dangerous world beyond.

**To Be Continued (?)**

* * *

Author's Notes (**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ)**

It's taken me almost five years to finally finish this fanfic, and I have to admit that it's a weird (though very rewarding) feeling being able to bring easily my longest piece of writing to date to an end. I've had the ending of A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School planned out for quite a while, and it's pretty awesome to be able to see them on paper after all these years.

Thank you again to everyone who has read the story. Your constant support has been invaluable. Without it, I'm pretty sure I would have abandoned this project a long time ago. In fact, I actually did for several months before I came back to my senses and continued on.

It's been a long, long road, and it's great to finally have reached the end. For now at least.

Is there a sequel being planned? Sort of. I already know what I want to write, but finding the time is the biggest issue that prevents me from committing to it. Do I want to write a sequel? Most definitely. I feel like A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School ended on such a downer, and I'd love to be able to flesh out the story even more.

If you're interested in seeing a sequel sometime in the next couple months, please **LEAVE A REVIEW IN THE REVIEW BOX TELLING ME. **Whether or not I'll start working on it is going to depend a lot on the kind of feedback I get. If it sounds like there's a high demand for it, I'll get right to work.

Thank you again for reading and reviewing. Entertaining you with A Ninja's Guide to Surviving High School has been a true honor and pleasure.


	79. Chapter 79

A Ninja's Guide to Surviving a Shinobi War  
By: JAJapster

Copyright Stuff: I don't own anything in the contents of this story. Please don't republish this story without asking permission. That is all.

Summary:  
Slightly AU –It has been three years since the flames of war engulfed Konoha and the rest of the world, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands. When Naruto unexpectedly returns, though, he brings with him the key to Konoha's victory: a suicide mission deep behind enemy lines. A squad of Shinobi will leave on a quest to end the war, but none of them will return home the same, if at all.

**IMPORTANT: IF YOU'RE READING THIS CHAPTER AS A PART OF "A NINJA'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HIGH SCHOOL", PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS IS ONLY A PREVIEW. THE FULL CHAPTER CAN BE READ BY CLICKING ON THE STORY LINK FOR A "NINJA'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING A SHINOBI WAR" IN MY AUTHOR'S PROFILE. ALL FUTURE CHAPTERS CAN BE FOUND THERE. THANKS! **

**Chapter One: Three Years Later...  
**

The soft humming noise that filled the spacious cargo bay of the T36 Nighthawk Transport was relaxing, threatening to lull First Lieutenant Nara Shikamaru to sleep as he rested his head against it. The plane rocked and bumped every time they ran into an air pocket or a particularly strong gust of wind, but this did little to distract the young Shinobi. Ever since he had been commissioned as a Chunin and then promoted to Jounin over the last several years, it seemed like he spent the majority of his days traveling in the back of airplanes, being whisked around the world to wherever his duties required. He was used to turbulence; in fact, he was so accustomed to being rocked and jarred to sleep it that he sometimes found it unsettling lying in his own bed.

"Five minutes, sir!" shouted the pilot from the cockpit. A bulb overhead lit up, bathing the cargo bay in an eerie green glow.

The insulated interior of the transport did an efficient job of isolating them from the rest of the world, fooling them, if only momentarily, that their plane was some kind of invulnerable sanctuary soaring through a raucous storm.

However, Shikamaru knew that if the airplane had a window to look out of, he would see an ocean of flickering lights erupting less than a mile beneath their position. Each flash represented an explosion of enemy shrapnel, a cloud of deadly metal shards that would rip through the transport's hull like paper.

If they were lucky, the fragmented pieces of jagged steel would kill them all instantly. If they weren't, the plane's engines would sputter and die, sending the smoldering wreckage spiraling through the air until it crashed into the forest below where they would slowly burn to death.

It was a morbid thought, but it was one Shikamaru had trouble keeping out of his mind every time they flew over this particular stretch of forest in Kusa. It was called the Airplane Graveyard for a reason. Dozens, if not hundreds, of aircrafts, both Konoha's and their enemies', had been sniped out of the sky by anti-aircraft batteries. Fly too high and you'd show up on someone's radar as a juicy target for their surface-to-air missiles. Fly too low and you'd end up as another entry in the growing list of aviators that the forest had claimed.

"You need to relax," Ino whispered. Most of her face was hidden behind the balaclava and combat helmet she was wearing, but Shikamaru could still see her bright blue eyes shimmering brightly in the dimly lit cabin. Traces of blond hair cascaded from beneath her helmet, draping down her shoulders and spilling over the olive flak vest that all Konoha Shinobi wore into battle. Shikamaru thought she looked beautiful.

"This is so troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "All this risk for one person."

Their mission was as basic as it was stupid.

A patrol somewhere in the woods below had gotten separated off from their platoon when armies from Earth and Lightening had unexpectedly attacked. The platoon, having sustained heavy casualties, retreated out of the forest with their dead and wounded, and the remainder of the patrol was promptly surrounded. As of their last update from three hours ago, they were completely cut off, low on ammunition and supplies, and were in danger of being overrun at any moment.

Unfortunately for Shikamaru and Ino, one member of the patrol was the son of a high-ranking Konoha councilman. Within minutes of the news that the councilman's son was in danger, the Hokage had given them the assignment to enter the forest, find the kid and get him out safely.

"Orders are orders," Ino replied, stroking his arm gently. "Don't worry. We'll get in, find him and be back at base before dawn."

"Yeah, right," Shikamaru snorted. If everything went well, they would land close to the patrol's position, find the councilman's son, and with their elite Shinobi training, manage to smuggle him out from beneath the noses of at least a hundred enemy soldiers who were armed to the teeth with machine guns, rocket launchers and night vision goggles. The odds of everything going that smoothly, though, were slim. More likely, their information would be wrong and he and Ino would spend the next few days scouring the forest for the patrol, only to find the members of the patrol all dead.

It was a pointless waste of their time and Shikamaru resented the fact that they were putting their lives in jeopardy just to rescue one soldier because of his political connections.

"Three minutes!" The pilot glanced back and smiled at Ino warmly. "Good luck ma'm."

"Thank you, Captain," Ino said sweetly. She had given the pilot a kiss on the cheek for good luck when they had lifted off. He was smitten now, just like any other poor sap that had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of Ino's shameless flirting.

It had been three years since they had abruptly graduated from Konoha High and were forced on to the front lines of war. They had both been through a number of battles and lost many friends, but it never ceased to amaze Shikamaru just how little Ino had seen to grow up during that time. In a way, though, Shikamaru was glad for this. It reminded him of better days days, back when they still had their childhood innocence and youthful optimism.

"Thirty seconds!"

A door in the transport's floor slid open and the deafening roar of rushing wind immediately filled the cabin. Shikamaru peered down at the landscape as it tore by, wincing as gusts of icy cold air tore at his skin. It was too dark to see the ground, but every few seconds, the night would be illuminated by a flash of light as another barrage of shrapnel detonated far too close for comfort.

It was hard to believe they were about to jump into that, without a parachute no less. A parachute would slow them down enough that a sniper might blast them on the way down. Hurtling through the sky and using their chakra to cushion their landing was the only way they'd make it to the ground in one piece. It was hardly ideal, but it was better than the alternative.

"Good luck!"

Ino leaned over, pulled down her mask and gave Shikamaru a long kiss on the lips, "I'll see you on the ground!"

And with that, the two Shinobi leaped out of the airplane and into the darkness.

**CONTINUE READING IN "A NINJA'S GUIDE TO SURVIVING A SHINOBI WAR" - THE LINK CAN BE FOUND IN MY AUTHOR'S PROFILE. **


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